I Volunteer
by MoonOfPluto
Summary: "I volunteer," I shout as soon as his name is called. Gale volunteers for Peeta in the Hunger Games so that he can protect Katniss. Will the star-crossed lovers and rebellion still exist?
1. 1: The Reaping

Disclaimer: the Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins. I do not own it.

1: The Reaping

Gale POV

Effie's hand twirls over the reaping bowl as if she is excited to send a girl to her death in the Hunger Games. Yes, death. I'm not stupid, District 12 has the least Victors of any district. I don't hold much hope for a new Victor this year. Her hand dips downwards, seizing a scrap of paper.

'Please not Katniss, please not Katniss,' I think 'Anyone but Katniss.'

Effie opens her mouth, ready to announce this years death. "Primrose Everdeen," she calls to the crowd. Damn. Katniss' sister. The only name that could possibly be worse than Katniss. Fate is cruel, Prim's name is only in the Reaping ball once, there are so many others with tesserae. If Prim dies it will destroy Katniss. But even worse, what if Katniss volunteered for her? In that split second, I know that she will. Like I would volunteer for Rory. Besides, Katniss is the most caring person I know. Prim started to step forward. Then I hear Katniss.

"No! No, Prim," she screecheS desperately as the peacekeepers crowd around her to restrain her. "I volunteer!" she screams. They pause. I doubt the peacekeepers even know what to do in these circumstances. Katniss is the first volunteer in living memory from our district. Soon to be second, I think suddenly. I won't let Katniss face careers alone.

Katniss straightened up in determination. "I volunteer as tribute," she says, her voice controlled. Only I could hear the sheer hate towards the Capitol expressed. The hate-fuelled fire rose up in me as well as the peacekeepers led Catnip up onto the stage. Effie seemed surprised, but disgustingly happy.

"Well, it looks like District Twelve has its very first volunteer," she says in shock. "What's your name my dear?"

"Katniss Everdeen," Catnip muttered.

"Katniss Everdeen," Effie spoke into the microphone. "Everdeen eh? Well I can bet my buttons that that was your sister down there wasn't it?"

"Yes."

There is no applause for her sacrifice. Slowly, I put my hand with three fingers up, a gesture of respect and good luck. The crowd slowly follow my example. Another first in Hunger Games history. No applause, just farewell and good luck. Well it won't be farewell from me.

"Now for the boys."

The same hand-swirling above the ball with my name in it. Hand dipping down, drawing a scrap of paper. "Peeta Mellark." The baker's son. I see him get up shakily and head towards the stage. You're lucky, I think coldly. That isn't the love of your life waiting for her death up there.

"I volunteer!" I shout rising up and walking towards Katniss. Catching her eye for a moment, I am surprised only to find confusion. Why would she think that I would just leave her behind? I nod reassuringly, but keep the stubborn look on my face. Katniss glares slightly, but I can see that she is slightly grateful. I can just hear her saying 'you volunteered for me! Gale! Who's going to feed our families?'

Oh no. I completely forgot. Catnip and I had an agreement that if one of us was reaped the other would help feed both of our families. With us both here... I can only hope that Rory had paid good attention to my hunting training, and the snares that I had taught him. He would be able to feed the family. And besides, I know Peeta. He doesn't forget a debt. He would probably help. But what about Katniss. Prim could forage and Mrs Everdeen sold remedies, I guess they could manage. Especially with Rory's help.

"Another volunteer?" Effie asked in complete shock. Get used to it, Hawthornes don't play by the book, I think.

"Gale Hawthorne," I introduce myself to the cameras. The same three-fingered salute comes to me as well. It seems a lot more daunting now that I am the subject of it, but infinitely better than the horrid half-hearted applause that tributes get every other year. A personal farewell from District 12.

We are taken off the stage surrounded by peacekeepers. Katniss looks as if she wants to say something, but I shake my head slightly. Not here, I signal. Later though, I promise. Katniss seems to get the gist of my message. Years of hunting together having to communicate in complete silence has given us an almost telepathic bond. A slight gesture from me or her, our expression, anything, and we can hear what the other wants to say. Katniss puts her head down. Later, she agrees.

We are led into the justice building into separate rooms. This is the time where a tribute's family comes to visit them. And give their final goodbyes, I realise the gravity of the situation crashing down on me. Katniss and I cannot make it out of the arena together. And I know which one of our lives I value more. I never really understood what my mum said about love until now. I couldn't imagine the idea of putting someone else's life above my own. Now I know exactly what she means though.

My mother, Rory and Posy come in. They are pale-faced and their eyes are red as if they have been crying. "Gale!" Posy flings herself at me attacking me in a hug. "Gale, please come back alive! How could you volunteer." I hug her back firmly, though feeling guilty. How do I tell Posy that I'm not coming back? In the end, I can't bring myself to.

"I'll try Posy," I murmur. "I'll try." Posy's pain-filled eyes break my heart. She is not placated by my words.

"Promise Gale," she insists.

"I promise that I will try my best to come home," I say. Doesn't mean my heart will let me, I add silently to myself.

My mother catches my eye and I can see that she knows what is happening. "Good luck Gale," she says finally. "District 12 will have a Victor this year." Yes, I think, but it won't be me.

Posy disentangles herself from me and I hug mum. "Yes it will," I say with determination. "Goodbye mum," I whisper to her.

"Rory, you are the man of the family now. Remember what I taught you about snares. It is your job to keep this family fed. You will probably have some help from Peeta," I add.

He nods seriously. "I will Gale."

"And remember that I love you, all of you."

"So long as remember that we love you," Rory and mum say at the same time.

"Love you Gale," Posy says sadly. "And remember your promise." She knows just how to twist the knife of guilt in me.

"I will. Goodbye," I say before the peacekeepers come to get them.

The next person to come in is Peeta. He sits in front of me with worry shining in his eyes. Why is he worried for me? I wonder.

"You love her, don't you?" he starts.

"Yes," I admit. There is no question about who he is talking about.

"Keep her safe for me," he pleads.

I nod. "Why do you care so much though?" I ask curiously.

"Because I love her too."

xXx-X-xXx

Authors Note:

First story in this site. If any of you have any constructive criticism or like the story, please review and tell me. Thanks.


	2. 2: Our Mentor

2: Our Mentor

Gale POV:

"You what?" I ask in shock. This was definitely not what I had expected. And unsurprisingly, my first thought was 'stay away Peeta. She's mine.' Peeta Mellark loves Katniss. I find myself feeling slightly irritated at him. If you love her so much why don't you go to the Hunger Games to protect her, I want to ask. But I refrain. Anyway, what chance does he stand with her. They've never even been proper friends and Katniss and I have known each other for years and helped each other out when times were hard. Where was he when Katniss was starving?

"I love Katniss Everdeen. Ever since I heard her singing for the first time," he admits. I grudgingly nod. That, I can understand. Katniss has a beautiful voice, though I was first attracted to her fire and hunting ability. But when I heard her voice I was taken. No other girl would ever be able to compare to her.

"She's my girlfriend," I state. "But if I don't come back and she does, you may have a chance."

Peeta nods. "I will help feed your families," he says. "It's the least I can do after you volunteered for me to protect my love."

"Fine," I say. I don't really want to accept anything from him, but when you've been hungry, you know better than to decline free food for yourself or your family.

"Good luck," he mutters. "Oh, and I brought you a token if you don't already have one." He opens his hand revealing a piece of amber with a ladybird inside it. It is quite beautiful. "I found it a few years ago," he says. "I brought it to the Reapings with me for luck. Now I want you to have it."

"Thanks Peeta. Goodbye."

"Goodbye," he says as the peacekeepers come in.

There are no more visitors. I tuck my token into my pocket, wondering what Katniss had. She would love this, she always has been one who can appreciate beauty. Maybe I can show her on the train. After she cools off about me volunteering of course. Which may take a while, knowing Katniss. But then, it is her fire that I find amazing about her.

xXx-X-xXx

Katniss POV

Why did Gale volunteer for me? Did he completely forget about our deal? Mum and Prim should live though, mum is still earning money and Prim can forage and I think she knows a few simple snares. She'll probably never use them though. And Gale and I can make a team. We can both shoot and throw knives. We can set snares. We just work well together. Maybe I can even win. But that means I will have to kill Gale. I shudder, putting the thought out of my head for the moment. That problem can be dealt with when I come to it. If I come to it, I correct mentally, there is no guarantee that Gale and I will be the last tributes alive.

I clench my fingers around the pure gold mockingjay pin given to me by Madge. A mockingjay, the creature that survived against all the odds. I can't help but hope that it is symbolic of me. As a District 12 tribute the odds aren't exactly in my favour. I remember all the times that Gale and I sat in the woods, sharing food and mocking the Capitol accents. May the odds be ever in your favour. Happy Hunger Games. I can't believe that just this morning Gale and I were mocking the Capitol and now we are on our way to the Hunger Games.

With Haymitch as our mentor. Just the thought of the drunken old fool makes anger shoot through me. How can he just watch every year as his tributes die in the bloodbath? How can he drink himself into oblivion while tributes need him. Well Gale and I won't let him do that this year.

I smile slightly, remembering when a drunken trader at the Hob had tried to take our catch for a terrible price. Gale had told him exactly what he thought and when the trader tried to hit him, he grabbed the fist and twisted it. Definitely not one to stand for drunkenness and idiocy.

The peacekeepers come in and drag me out to the huge Capitol train. I enter and am immediately taken aback and angry at the luxury of the carriage we are in. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, there are statues, a bar and I can just see the amount of money spent on it. Enough to feed a family in District 12 for over a month. The Capitol lives in luxury while we, the Districts, starve. I see Effie enter the train with Haymitch and Gale in tow.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

Up close, Effie looks even worse than far away. She truly is one of the Capitol freaks with her pale pink lips and unnaturally blonde curly hair. And they think we look disgusting. As I enter the train with Haymitch stumbling behind me, hate rises in me at the money and effort put into this carriage. Katniss is already sitting down at a small table with a few chairs set around it.

I plonk myself down in one chair and Haymitch takes the other. Effie walks away, probably to put on more make-up or something. Yuck. Haymitch leans forward to pour himself a drink.

"So you're our mentor?" I prompt him.

"Yup," he mutters.

"So do you have any advice for us?" I prompt again.

"Here's some advice for you boy. Stay alive." Haymitch cackles.

"Oh, very funny," Katniss spits sarcastically. "Just not to us," she ends her voice dead serious. Haymitch just shrugs and reaches for another drink. Katniss and my eyes meet for a moment and we simultaneously lunge forward. I knock the glass out of his hand while she stabs a knife between his fingers.

"A pair of fighters this year?" he asks. "Finally." Then he laughs again. Katniss and I look at each other confused. Is he drunk or just crazy, we wonder. "Can you hit anything else with that knife girl?" he asks.

"Katniss," she corrects. Then she picked up her knife and aimed for a second. I could see her glance at a thick plank of mahogany wood across the room and she throws the knife. It whizzes through the air and impales itself in between two planks of wood. I grin slightly, this makes her look much better than she actually is. Not that she isn't good at knife-throwing, we've both had to throw more than our fair share of knives, but it takes a special talent and precision to be able to do that on purpose.

Haymitch claps slowly. "Very nice girl." Katniss and I glare at him. "So what can you do boy?" he asks.

"Gale," I state. "I'm good with snares. And I can throw knives too."

"He can also shoot a bow and arrow," Katniss interrupts.

"We both know that is your weapon," I say. "But she's right, I can use a bow and arrow decently," I add to Haymitch. "But Katniss is much better than me. It's her special weapon."

"I'm not that good.." Katniss starts.

"Don't lie Katniss. We both know you're amazing," I interrupt her.

"So you two know each other?" Haymitch asks.

"We hunt together," Katniss says. "You may have seen us at the Hob."

"Maybe," he agrees. "So you two can hunt. That's very useful, food is one less thing to worry about. If you show that game makers your talent then they'll make sure there are bows and arrows in the arena. So why did you volunteer for him boy?" Haymitch asks rather directly.

"Gale," I correct. "And how did you know I volunteered? I thought you were drunk."

Haymitch looks away for a second. "I have a tolerance," he says. "Answer my question."

I know I'm pushing it, but I still ask "why should I?"

Impatience flashes in his eyes for a moment. "Because I am your mentor and only link to the outside world in the arena."

"I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to protect her," I tell him.

"Love in the arena?" he asks cackling again. "It won't last," he says sobering up a bit. I can't believe that he hit the nail on the head so quickly. But Katniss doesn't know I volunteered because I love her, she probably just thinks my explanation is true. I am impulsive, it's believable. I realise that I have been staring at him in surprise for a few moments.

"Kid, I was joking," he says. "We all know love doesn't happen between tributes. You have to kill each other."

An idea suddenly hatches in my head. We all know love doesn't happen between tributes. The perfect way to stand out. A stance that no tributes have ever taken before. And from a Capitol TV show I once saw I know that the Capitolites are crazy about forbidden love. This will get us sponsors like nothing else.

"I need to go," Haymitch says. "Ask Trinket if you need anything."

xXx-X-xXx

Another chapter. Please review if you like or have criticism for the story. Thanks to EllRose for reviewing last chapter.

-MoonOfPluto


	3. 3: Explanations

3: Explanation

Katniss POV

Gale volunteered to protect me. He wasn't thinking. I guess I knew this already, but hearing it from Gale's mouth seems to make it seem so much more true. And Haymitch.. Was not what I expected. He seemed a lot more sober than I've ever seen him before. And the way he looked away before saying he has a tolerance to alcohol. He was lying. I've seen the signs with Gale before, I know what to look for. Haymitch may have been drunk, but he definitely isn't stupid.

After all he did win the Hunger Games and after such effort to preserve his life, I doubt he would just drink it away. But why would he act as if he's stupid? So people underestimate him? To annoy the Capitol people? Both are good reasons, but they don't seem quite right. I decide to put the mystery of Haymitch behind me for the moment and concentrate on more important matters. Staying alive. And Gale.

Should I form an alliance? Or should we part ways early so it won't hurt so much when he or I are killed? I shake my head in frustration, I won't be able to kill Gale. Yet. The thought of the Games changing a person so much that they will kill their best friend scares me more than I would like to admit. I see Gale looking at me curiously. I must have caught his attention with my frustration.

"What's wrong Katniss?" he asks gently.

"What do you think is wrong?" I explode. "Oh, I don't know, maybe that I have to fight to my death in a few days against you while our families go hungry because you volunteered?" He recoils slightly.

"Katniss, our families won't go hungry," he insists. "Peeta Mellark will be helping to feed them. And Rory can hunt and Prim can forage. They will be fine."

I sigh. "It's not your fault. It's the Capitols fault for making us fight. You just wanted to protect me."

"I will protect you," he says firmly.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

I wonder how Katniss will react to my plan. And the revelation that I love her. Though she may already know. I meant what I said though, I will protect Katniss, with my life. I just hope what Haymitch says is wrong, I don't want to live if living means that I have killed Katniss. It feels odd to have my survival instinct based on someone else's life.

I can just feel Katniss's frustration and it was confirmed when she erupted when I asked what was wrong. And to be honest, I can't blame her. How would I react, I wonder, if our roles were switched. If I volunteered for Rory, then Katniss volunteered to protect me? Probably not as well as she is coping. Maybe it is time to tell her. If I wait a few days we will be in the Games and we might die.

"Katniss, I have an idea about how to get sponsors. Something which no tribute has ever done before."

Her interest is piqued. "What is it?" she asks me.

"Love," I reply simply.

"Love?" she asks in shock. "Gale, that will just make us look weak!"

"No," I reply smiling. "Maybe if you were in love with some weak merchant kid, but we both look strong. And besides, remember that Capitol TV show they once showed at school?"

"Which one?"

"The one about the lovers. The Capitol love that sort of thing. It makes us look interesting. And it will make us stand out. Let's face it, neither of us are people people. We aren't good with crowds, or flattering the Capitol audiences."

She has to agree with me here. "But love Gale?" she asks.

"Katniss, I love you, for real. That's why I volunteered. You know, I haven't had any girlfriends, because no girl can compare to you. At least give it a chance. If it doesn't work out we can just go back to being hunting partners and friends."

"Fine," she says. "I guess we'll never get chance if we leave it after the Games. And just to help us get sponsors, I'm sorry, I just don't feel that way about you Gale."

"I know, it's OK," I reply, even though her words tear me apart inside, I am not surprised. We've had more of a brother sister relationship for two years, it does feel a bit odd to me as well. But she's giving it a chance. If only to help her to survive.

xXx-X-xXx

Katniss POV

Gale loves me. That is why he volunteered. The words feel odd in my mouth. I don't know how to feel. I've never been a feelings person, neither has Gale, he would probably have never confessed if it weren't for the Games. I mean, I love Gale, but I've always thought of him as more of a brother or a best friend. Though it was expected for us to get together sooner or later, there were even some rumours about how we already were together. I never noticed how Gale never seemed to have a girlfriend, even though most of the boys his age did and there were plenty of girls staring after him. This was because of me?

He's made this whole situation so much more complicated. Before it was just, go to the Hunger Games, survive. But no, Gale had to volunteer. And then admit that he loves me. If killing Gale would have been hard before it's impossible now. And acting as if I love him for a Capitol audience just feels wrong to me. Love is just not meant to be forced and viewed. And it definitely isn't meant to happen a few days before being thrust into a world where only one can survive. But I guess I could act like I love him. I mean, we were probably going to end up together anyway. Just later. And with less people watching.

Gale got one thing right: I am terrible with crowds and audiences. I just get so nervous and embarrassed that I say stupid things. It seems ridiculous that in a few days I am going into the Hunger Games, yet my biggest fear remains the interviews with the Capitol audiences being broadcast across Panem. And these interviews have a large effect on the amount of sponsors we will get. I begin to feel slightly grateful to Gale for coming up with this plan. If I were with Peeta I would just have to stumble my way through the interview and I would be on my own in the Games. But I still feel uncomfortable with it.

"So what are you going to do in training?" I ask, changing the subject.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

I look up to Katniss' question. We had both been silent for a few minutes, mulling over the situation. I haven't thought much about training yet. Should I show off and try and join the careers or should I pretend I can't do anything and go for the element of surprise?

"I'm not sure yet," I reply honestly. "Haymitch hasn't exactly given us much advice. What are you going to do?"

She thinks for a moment. "Same," she replies.

"We're both strong," I state. "We could join the careers if we show off. Get the weapons we need. Then leave early on when they're asleep."

"Or we could keep the element of surprise."

"You don't want to join the careers, do you?" I ask knowingly. Katniss has always been more moral than I have, she probably hates the way they are doing the most killing. I on the other hand, realise that this is the Hunger Games and these kids are going to die anyway, so Katniss may as well live.

"Do you?" she challenges.

"It will definitely cut down the risk for the first few weeks," I explain. "After all, most tributes are killed by the career pack in the Bloodbath."

"I guess you're right," she says reluctantly. "But I just don't want to kill that many people."

"How about this," I suggest, "we join the career pack for the first week or so, get the weapons we need. Then we can betray, kill one or two when they're asleep and run."

"Fine," she mutters. "But I'm not killing a twelve year old."

"Alright, I'll do the killing for you."

"I don't want you killing either Gale."

"Katniss, this is the Hunger Games. Twenty three of us are going to die, whatever happens."

She is silent.

xXx-X-xXx

Authors Note:

Another chappie. If you like or have CC, please review. Thanks to Sammie0014 for reviewing the last chapter.

-MoonOfPluto


	4. 4: Arriving

4: Arriving

Katniss POV

Why does Gale want to join the careers? He has a twelve year old brother, how could he just agree to kill other little boys and girls so easily? I know in my heart that if it comes to killing a twelve year old I won't be able to do it. All I will see is Prim, my little duck, and will back out.

I look over to Gale, who is sitting with an expression of stone on his face. We are nearing the Capitol, probably the reason for it. Gale hates the Capitol even more than I do. He always had more anger in him than me. I don't disagree with his hate in this case though: when it comes to the Capitol, the deserve every bit of it. I feel my face setting into an angry expression and my muscles tensing as I look out of the window.

The Capitol is filled with pristine white skyscrapers and beautiful mansions. It is obvious the amount of wealth they possess and the money and effort that went into building this place. And it makes me feel sick. In this moment, I remember the starving children on the streets of District 12 not lucky enough to be able to hunt or forage. And then the Capitolites are here living in luxury where their biggest worry is what crazy hairstyle to choose.

And the Capitol people: they are freaks. Their skins are dyed in a variety of colours ranging from pale blue to dark red. Their hair is mainly bleached white blonde and I even see a few people with tails. And the clothes are even more strange and horrible than Effie's, it seems here in Capitol Effie would be a fairly natural person. The train stops; Haymitch and Effie enter the room.

"Well we're here, oh and isn't the Capitol beautiful?" Effie says brightly.

"Oh, yes and won't the arena be so beautiful as well?" Gale snaps sarcastically. Effie shuts up and glares at him.

"Get off the train," Haymitch mutters. "Exit's over there." He gestures down the corridor to a place where doors are opening and a ramp is extending down. Gale and I reluctantly walk over and step down onto the ramp, giving death glares to the cheering Capitol people. They appear not to notice.

Down the train, I can see other tributes descending down the ramps. I keep an eye out for the careers and any other threats. District 1 tributes are the typical, a pretty boy and girl, beautiful but deadly. District 2 is a bit out of the ordinary. The male tribute is huge, even bigger than Gale, and well muscled. Definitely one to watch out for. The girl is about fifteen with dark hair, probably dangerous too. A girl from 5 catches my eye, red hair and foxlike features, looks a bit sly. District 11 has a huge boy, but the girl is only twelve, reminding me of Prim.

Going through the Capitol crowd isn't so bad as I had expected, it passed by quite quickly. We are soon taken to a skyscraper and Effie pushes us into a lift. We get out on the top floor. The view is beautiful, in the next few days, I can see myself sitting on the roof with Gale, just enjoying each others company.

We have separate rooms, nicely furnished. I go into mine and Gale goes into his. The chariot rides will be tonight, I hope we have a decent stylist this year. Last year our tributes were naked and covered in coal dust. A style even the Capitol people weren't crazy enough to appreciate. I lie down on my bed hopelessly. Even with Gale's crazy plan, we still have little hope of getting good sponsors.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

Damn, the Capitol is more luxurious than I thought it would be. I mean, yes, I've seen it before on TV, but it doesn't compare to the real thing. Hatred rises in me, against the whole system. At my age, Capitol teenagers are probably watching the Hunger Games and gossiping about which tribute they like best, not about which spot in the woods is best for hunting.

My room is better than our whole house back in District 12, and the Capitol only use these rooms for a few days per year. They are dressing us up for the slaughter, I realise, the hopelessness setting in. I had forgotten completely about the chariot rides tonight, and the utter rubbish the District 12 stylists come up with every year.

Coal mining is not glamorous, they can't make much out of it. Usually, our tributes dress in baggy miners outfits. Last year the stylist tried to be different. He succeeded in a bad way, I think, remembering the tributes 'dressed' in coal dust. I hope that whoever decides the stylists has enough common sense to get rid of that one. Then again, there's not much hope, this is Capitol, judging by what I've seen so far they don't have common sense.

I hear a knock at the door. I ignore it, wanting to be alone with my anger. A few moments later a woman comes in. She has pale green skin and white hair. Eugh, another Capitol freak.

"I am your stylist," she says. "My name is Portia, and I am here to make sure you are suitable for the chariot rides. I have your outfit here," she gestures to a bag. "Luckily for you, it covers your body completely. We will not need to do the shaving and waxing we normally do."

"Well that's good," I mutter sincerely. I don't want this Capitol freak that I've just met examining my body and tearing out my hair. I take the bag and go into the bathroom. In it, is something black. It is a full body jumpsuit. There is a cape made from the same material and a strip of fabric to tie around my head to keep my hair back. I pull on the clothes and look myself over in the mirror. I look ridiculous in the cape, like one of the superheroes in some of the comics that merchant kids read.

I come back into the room and Portia claps excitedly. "Oh, you're so handsome," she gushes. "The audiences will love this and they will love the next touch even more. Now spin around." I do as she says and she nods, satisfied.

"So what's the next touch?" I ask nervously.

"Well Cinna, that's Katniss stylist, and I have been developing pretend fire. It looks just like real fire, but it won't burn. So we can set fire to your headdress and cape. Everyone will love it." Fire. That will look different I guess. If I don't get burned alive. I suppose I'll have to trust Portia on this, she knows more about crazy Capitol fashions than me. She leads me out of my room outside to wear twelve chariots are waiting. I get into the one labelled twelve, seeing Katniss. She is dressed the same as me.

"So what do you think of the fire?" I ask.

"I'll rip off your cape if you'll rip off mine," she mutters grimly.

"Don't worry," I soothe, "I'm sure the Capitol know what they're doing when it comes to crazy fashions."

"I can't help it Gale, my instincts are telling me not to trust fire."

"It's just for a few minutes." I grin. "And if it does go wrong, then I promise that I will rip off your cape."

She smiles back. "And I will rip off yours."

A dark skinned man with a bit of gold eyeliner comes in and lights our capes. "Good luck," he mutters. The chariot starts to move. The Capitol audience is cheering wildly for the first few Districts. Then they go quiet and I see that they have noticed us. There is a short muttering, then they explode into applause. Roses are thrown and Katniss catches one, waving to the crowd. I wave awkwardly too, before an idea hits me. I grasp Katniss' hand and whisper, "let's make an impression." We hold hands and raise them. The Capitol becomes more excited. Step one to getting sponsors, complete.

We come to a stop in front of Snow's mansion. Cameras are focusing on us and President Snow as he starts to make a speech. I zone out through it and come back to Katniss shaking me. It is time to return to our rooms for tonight. Finally, I don't think I can stand another minutes of these crowds.

xXx-X-xXx

Authors Note:

Another chapter. Feel free to review.

-MoonOfPluto


	5. 5: Training

5: Training

Katniss POV

I wake up in the morning and look around me, forgetting where I am for a second. Then it all comes back to me: volunteering, Gale, the games, everything. I groan slightly, that moment where I just forgot everything is probably going to be the best moment for at least the next month. I go to to breakfast; Gale and Haymitch are already sitting there.

The table is loaded with different food. There is bread from each District. I rather like the District 4 bread, we never have fish back home and I eat a lot of a salty meat which tastes very good. Gale is also stuffing his face, for years we've been surviving on not quite enough, now we are making up for it.

"You start training today," Haymitch says. "Gale told me about your plan to join the careers. Just make sure to learn new stuff as well. And don't ignore the survival skills, more tributes die from starvation than weapons, you know." Yes, I do know that. Like every other person in Panem, I watch the Hunger Games every year. I decide not to say it though, Haymitch is just trying to help, and besides, it's not often that he is sober.

Gale and I finish breakfast and follow Haymitch to the training room. Rather impressive. It's very large with all types of weapons at one side of the room. In another corner is a climbing wall, weights and even a swimming pool. In the other part are survival skills such as snares and fire-making. Gale and I look at each other, and I can see that he is excited to learn a new skill.

We both head to the weapons side. Splitting our paths, I go to the archery section and he goes to knife-throwing. The girl from District 1 is here already. Her arrow hits the edge of a target and she looks annoyed. I pick up a bow close to the size of the one I have at home and test it, getting used to the feel. Here, bows are more taut and powerful. Loading my bow, I point it at the centre of one of the targets and let my arrow fly. It embeds itself in the place where a heart would be were it real.

The other girl looks interested as I do it again and again. The Capitol trainer notices and eventually sets up some moving targets. Letting myself fall into a trance, I instinctively load my bow and shoot until I run out of arrows. The targets have all been hit. The blonde girl is looking at me with slight fear now. She extends her hand.

"I'm Glimmer, from District 1," she introduces.

"Katniss, District 12," I respond.

"I couldn't help but notice that you shoot very well."

"Yes?" I ask impatiently, wondering if this is leading somewhere.

"I think your skills might make a good addition to the career alliance."

I swallow. Moment of fate, do I accept. "I accept your offer," I mutter guiltily.

"I thought you would," she says smiling.

No turning back now, I guess. Now all I need to worry about is Gale getting into the career alliance. Looking over to him, he is at the knives station with the District 2 girl. Now that I am closer she looks more dangerous, and I can see her accurately impaling dummies with knives. Gale is doing the same, though not as quickly. He is a bit above my level at knife-throwing.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

My knife impales the target lit up, nearly at the very centre. I throw another, the same happens and I continue, though I keep my eye on the other girl. Around fifteen, she is from District 2. An expert at throwing knives, she seems to have the same skill with knives as Katniss does with a bow and arrow. I hope my knife throwing skills impress her enough to get into the careers. And I'm eighteen and strong, yes, I should get in fine.

I see Katniss talking to the blonde District 1 girl. Looks like she has a place in the careers, not surprising really, after seeing her shoot all of those targets I would be asking for an alliance as well. I can shoot a bow and arrow pretty well too, but I've decided to keep that secret, like Katniss seems to have with her knife-throwing ability. I will show off with snares though, and if I don't get into the careers then I guess I'll have to show that I can shoot nearly as well as her.

"I'm Clove," the District 2 girl says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Gale, District 12," I reply.

"I have decided that you are good enough to join our alliance," she says haughtily. "Do you have any other skills?"

I shrug. "I'm good with snares, I can identify berries and all that," I answer, keeping the bow and arrow a secret.

"Good," she responds. "I'll tell the others, meet us after the Bloodbath. If you're still alive that is," she says smiling.

"I'll try."

She walks away leaving me here. Shrugging, I wander over to the swords section. Swords are probably the most common weapons in the arena and besides, I need something for killing up close. A bow and arrow is useless when you have a career in front of you with an axe.

A huge boy, Clove's partner is already here, slicing up dummies. Sword is definitely his weapon of choice by the looks of it. I go up to the Capitol trainer and ask if she can teach me to use a sword. She nods and leads me over to a rack where a number of different blades hang. Some are curved, some are straight, long, short, thin and wide. I never knew there were this many swords. I begin to wonder if I should have chosen to learn about spears instead, but I'm here now.

A blade is placed into my hands, but it feels wrong and I tell her. She removes it and gives me a different one. This feels better, more balanced. It is a straight, leaf-shaped blade of around medium to short length. Swinging it experimentally at a dummy, I see with satisfaction that it slices right through, beheading it. The sword is fairly light compared to the other one, but shorter.

The Capitol trainer seems happy as she corrects my grip. Apparently it is a one-handed sword. She then tells me to use less follow-through and so I can change direction with it faster. I do as she says and practice for a while, the movements slowly becoming more natural to me. It seems I have found a natural talent, but I'm definitely no Cato (District 2 boy). After all, he has probably been training for five years and I've been training for half an hour. But I can use the sword fine, which will be enough.

I spend the rest of the morning at the survival stations and when lunch comes I sit with Katniss. However Glimmer comes over and asks us to sit at the career table. Sitting around it are four others: two girls and two boys. I recognise Clove and Cato, but not the other two.

"I'm Gale from 12."

"I'm Glimmer from one and this is my partner Marvel," Glimmer says smiling. How she can be so cheerful, I don't know. Actually, I do know, she's been raised all her life for this and it is some sort of treat for her to be here. Sick bitch, even if this is what you've been raised for, how can you enjoy it? The District 1 names make me laugh though, I mean, Glimmer and Marvel? Seriously? What would I be called if I was from 1, I wonder. Sparkle maybe?

"Cato," Cato says. "And my partner: Clove." Well at least he's serious about it.

"Mara," the District 4 girl says. "And my District partner is not a career." I wonder about this for a second, District 4 tributes are generally careers. Then again, Finnick Odair from the sixty ninth games didn't volunteer, so maybe there are some years where there are no volunteers. Possibly District 4 isn't as heartless as 1 and 2, and they always kill quickly.

"I'm Katniss," my partner mutters. It is easy to tell that she is uncomfortable. For me at least, but then, I've known her for years. And I'm her boyfriend, I think proudly.

We start to share our skills. Katniss mentions the bow and arrow and that she can hunt and is good with snares. I mention snares and knives and say I started to train with a sword. Cato boasts about swords, but that he's good with spears too. Clove is knives. Marvel is spears. Glimmer says about a bow and arrow. Mara mentions a weapon I've never heard of called a polearm.

"What's a polearm?" Katniss asks.

"It's not that common," Mara replies. "It's a bit like a spear, but it has a sort of curved knife on the end. I had to request one."

"Oh."

The rest of lunch is eaten in silence; none of us want to give anything away and none of us want to get attached to other tributes. Too bad it's too late for that for me. Though it's best that I don't get attached to anyone else, especially a career, when it gets to the final eight they always backstab each other. This year I'm going to be the backstabber, I think miserably.

After lunch I go back to practising with swords and Katniss talks to Mara about polearms. I see her practising with one with some dummies with a Capitol instructor correcting her. She is fairly good with it, but her movements are clumsy, especially when compared to Mara's. Mara is lethal, it is clear that she has practised using a polearm for years. My sword skills are getting better, I can use a sword faster and for longer. To be honest, it isn't that difficult, I'll only need advanced skills is I'm against a career like Cato. Otherwise I can get by using reflexes. Still, I'd like to make myself as good as possible. And with the skills I have at the moment I can show off to the gamemakers in my private session.

At the end of the day of training I go back to my room with Katniss. "So how did you find training?" I ask her now that we are in private.

"Decent.. I guess," she says. "I learned to use a polearm, but seeing Mara.. She could kill me with one in two seconds."

"Don't worry," I murmur. "She won't be able to kill you if you get to her with a bow or knife first."

"I guess.. I saw you trying to learn to use a sword. How's that going for you?"

"Pretty much the same as you with the polearm. I'm good, but against Cato I'd be dead in a second. Still, I have the skills I need to show of for the training session. And in the games I'll probably be able to find some knives or a bow I can use. And I can set snares."

"What if the Games change me?" Katniss whispers. "It's just so scary.. Now we're using our hunting techniques to kill tributes and you're just so casual about setting snares for.. For humans."

"I'll love you no matter what Katniss. The Games won't change you that much," I reply determined. "And don't blame yourself for their deaths, it's the Capitol's fault. Not yours. Don't forget that," I continue.

"I guess," she whispers, unconvinced.

xXx-X-xXx

So, what do you guys think? Good? Bad? Feel free to leave a review. Only two or three chapters left before they go into the Games.

-MoonOfPluto


	6. 6: Private Sessions

6: Interviews

Katniss POV

The next few days of training pass in much the same way as the first. I spend one morning at the survival stations, because I know most of the survival tips from District 12 hunting. Most of the time is spent practising with the polearm though, and I have to say, it is a beautiful weapon. It just feels right in my hands, much lighter than a sword and keeps your enemy out of range. But still a close range weapon, though I don't plan on getting so close to a tribute trying to kill me.

I don't know, it just seems so much easier to kill from far away with a bow and arrow. Just like hunting, I realise. Maybe this is how Gale seems so unbothered by killing, he's one of the best hunters I know. But it just disturbs me that if I don't distinguish people from animals then it will be hunting. I suppose that's why I prefer the bow and arrow, when I'm up close it will just feel a lot more personal, looking into their eyes, then killing them.

Today though, there is no training. The room is kept for private sessions, so now, Gale and I are just sitting here hearing the names being called out. As we are from District 12, we come last for training sessions. This is unfortunate for us because the careers come first, so the gamemakers will have seen the best, and by the time our District comes they will just be bored. I probably have it the very worst as boys have the training sessions first.

Gale is sitting across from me stony-faced as the gamemakers call in each tribute. To anyone else he would probably look angry, but I can see beyond that and realise that he is scared. Because these interviews mean practically everything when it comes to sponsors. Because though our stylists have been amazing, even if you dress a career up as a flamingo it will still get sponsors. Stylists get you attention, but what is really taken into account is your training score.

District 1 and 2 take the longest. This is understandable, they have the most skill in weapons and are show-offs. District 3, the female takes only a short time but the boy takes a bit longer I notice. Maybe I underestimated him, I can't really remember taking much notice of District 3. Mara takes quite a while, but her partner doesn't take long. The rest take relatively short times, except for District 11.

Thresh, the boy, I can understand. He is eighteen and looks very strong. I've seen him in the training room and he is good with a scythe, and climbing which is normal for 11. But Rue, I don't know about. She is only twelve, like Prim, and hasn't shown much skill in training at all. OK, she can climb, but that wouldn't take very long.

"District 12, Gale Hawthorne," the woman calls. Gale gets up and walks determinedly through the door. Rue is coming out, looking quite scared and I feel a rush of sympathy for her being the only twelve year old in the Games. Not that I want there to be another twelve year old.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

The door shuts behind me. The training room looks odd being empty, but I shrug and walk over to the table of gamemakers. "Gale Hawthorne, District 12," I announce myself. Hardly any of them are looking. I go over to the bows and arrows. Maybe they're just waiting for me to do something.

Nocking an arrow, I aim at the heart of a dummy and shoot. It hits where I aim and I wait for a reaction. Nothing, they are still eating and half-drunk. Damn, maybe this is why so few District 12 tributes get good scores. Anger wells up in me, they only have to do this for one day and they can't even concentrate on us trubutes for that long? I try throwing knives, doing well, and I use a sword to behead a few dummies easily. Still nothing.

I glare at the gamemakers, pinpointing the source of their attention. A few had watched me, but hardly any. I see a pig with an apple in the mouth. If I were as good with a bow as Katniss maybe I would try and shoot the apple, but with my skills it's a bit too risky. Still, maybe I can do something to get their attention.

I go back to the archery station and pick up a bow and an arrow. Next, to the fire-lighting station. I grab a bit of cloth and some matches and wrap the arrow with cloth before setting fire to it. Now, timing is everything. Quickly as I can, I load the bow and shoot the arrow into the heart of another dummy. The fire blazes for a second, catching the attention of a few more gamemakers, before going out, leaving part of the dummy charred. Living up to my Capitol title of 'the boy who was ablaze'.

Then I walk out of the room, my head held high, though I know that fury is still mouldering in my eyes. Katniss looks at me curiously, but right now I'm not really in the mood to tell anyone about what happened. Not even Katniss, my friend, hunting-partner and true love.

The worst part is that I don't even know if it worked. I didn't even get all of the gamemakers attention, though I did get many of theirs, including Seneca Crane (the Head Gamemaker). Hopefully that should be enough to get me a good score, and maybe I've even made things a bit easier for Katniss.

"Katniss Everdeen, District 12."

Catnip gets up shakily and walks over to the door. "Good luck," I say to her before she goes through. She smiles slightly at me and goes through the door. I am left waiting for her, hoping that the gamemakers are paying attention. I wonder if this was what it was like for her waiting for me. In all honesty, this waiting is probably worse than the actual session. Just hoping that they won't give her a bad score, though for us it may not be the end of the world. After all, we still have one thing left: love. And besides Cinna and Portia have got us a lot of attention with the fiery outfits. But still, it will help a lot if we both get good scores.

After about fifteen minutes Katniss comes out. Her head is held high like mine was, but I can easily see past the proud act. Her eyes are nearly spilling over with tears and she is looking very afraid and sad. I am immediately next to her, holding her hand and taking her up to my room. Once we are there I finally speak.

"What's wrong Katniss? What happened in there?" I ask, feeling slightly murderous towards the gamemakers for upsetting my love like this.

Katniss wipes her eyes and brushes her hair out of her face. "I'm hopeless," she whispers. "I.. I shot an arrow at the gamemakers."

"Shh, it's OK Catnip, don't worry," I murmur.

"No, it's not OK Gale!" she shouts. "It's not OK at all! They'll give me a low score and maybe the careers will reconsider me being there and they'll take it out on me in the arena and I won't have any sponsors. So don't tell me it's OK when it isn't!"

"Don't worry Katniss, I'm here for you," I try again. "And the careers know what you can do. And besides, we still have one last trick for the sponsors." I'm not really sure how to comfort a girl about something like this, though I am worried too, to be honest, I really respect Katniss for this. This is the girl I fell in love with.

"Love," she mutters. "Well I didn't exactly shoot an arrow at them. Near them though, they were paying attention to a stupid pig with an apple in it's mouth and I just got so angry and shot the apple."

I smile slightly, Katniss and I really are similar. "Katniss, my first thought to you is well done. I thought of doing that, but I didn't really trust my archery skills. But I did set an arrow on fire and shoot a dummy with it. I hope that got their attention, though you were so much better."

"So that was what that burn mark on the dummy was?" she asks curiously. I nod. "Amazing," she says. "But they probably won't misinterpret that as an attempt to kill them," she adds putting a dampener on it. "I suppose we've got to go down and tell Haymitch and Effie about it?" she asks. I nod and we go downstairs.

"So how did the private sessions go?" Effie asks. "Do you think you did well?"

"I set an arrow on fire and shot it at a target," I reply. "Other than that, no probs."

"I shot an arrow at an apple in a pigs mouth near the gamemakers," Katniss responds, outdoing me.

Effie's response is an ear-piercing scream of "what?!"

She is about to continue when Haymitch walks in. "Nice shooting sweetheart," he addresses Katniss giving her a thumbs up. "Well done too Gale."

Effie is looking more frustrated than ever. "Oh it's all very well for you.. For you to laugh now. But their actions reflect badly upon all of us," she says gesturing around the room for effect. "What do you think will happen if they decide to take it out upon them in the games, eh?" she continues.

"Lady, they've already made her life hell. There's not that much more that they can do." Effie is silent. For the first time since getting here I am starting to respect Haymitch. Yes, he's a drunk, but he's a lot more aware than others give him credit for. And anyone who can annoy the hell out of Effie has to have some good in them. The TV comes on, about to give us the scores.

"Glimmer Shine, District 1," a picture of Glimmer comes up. "A score of nine," and a large nine flashes across the screen. "Marvel Ore, District 1, with a score of 9. Clove Davis, District 2, with a score of 10. Cato Bridon, 2, with a score of 10." This is unsurprising. Careers generally get around eight-ten. It continues with the boy from 3 getting a notable 7, Foxface from 5 getting four (maybe she's not so big a threat?) and Mara getting 9. Thresh gets ten and Rue, surprisingly, pulls a 7.

"Gale Hawthorne," my picture comes up. I feel my breath hitch in my throat waiting. "With a score of 10." I let out the breath. Ten. The top score since Finnick Odair got 11, equal to Cato. I couldn't have hoped for better.

"And Katniss Everdeen, with a score of.. 11." Everybody starts cheering, nobody harder than me. Katniss is looking surprised with an unmistakeable look of pure relief and happiness on her face for the first time since the Reaping.

"They must've liked your spunk kid," Haymitch says.

xXx-X-xXx

Authors Note:

Hope you liked the chapter. Probably only one or two more chapters until the games now. Feel free to comment, thoughts on this story would be really nice.

-MoonOfPluto


	7. 7: Interviews

7: Interviews

Katniss POV

An eleven? Really, me? The only tribute that I can remember getting eleven is Finnick Odair and the whole of Panem saw how deadly he was in the arena. I don't think that I'm quite so dangerous, yes I can shoot, but all of the careers have a special weapon that they're great at. Maybe it's just like Haymitch said, they liked my spunk.

I snap out of my reverie to hear Gale congratulating me and patting me on the back. "Well done Gale," I say to him. "Ten is pretty impressive."

"Not as impressive as you," he says, not a hint of jealousy in his voice, just relief. "This is probably the best we could have possibly hoped for. And it won't make you a target! Katniss, you've got the top score in living memory." It dawns upon me that this is correct, I didn't realise I made Hunger Games history. Though I guess that happened when I shot at arrow at the gamemakers, I doubt other tributes normally do that.

"Now all I have to worry about is my interview," I say, only half-joking. The looming interview is really terrifying me, I just can't speak to crowds and pretend to be all nice and 'oh I love the Capitol so much and will you sponsor me?'. No, I think I'm more the 'I hate you, but seeing as I need you right now, sponsor me or else' type. I don't understand how the others do it, how they can pretend to like the Capitol and actually succeed. Though are the Capitolites really so stupid that they actually believe we like them?

"Yes, the interviews are this evening. We will start interview training this afternoon. Would you like to train together or apart?" Effie asks us.

Gale and I exchange glances. We have nothing to hide. "We'll train together," I say.

"Excellent," Effie responds. I doubt she'll be thinking that this afternoon when she has to train us. Gale or I she can probably cope with, but both of us at the same time learning to walk in heels and sit properly and flatter people. No, I don't think that will work very well. "You'll have your first session with me and then with Haymitch."

Lunch is quite light, some District 12 breads and a variety of Capitol hams and the main conversation is our scores. I feel slightly uncomfortable with everyone praising me like this, I mean, all I did was shoot an apple near the gamemakers. Though I can't really say I am looking forward to the end of lunch, Effie's training is apparently about how to appear gracefully and walk in heels and all that rubbish. Which I know I'll be a failure at: District 12 style does not include grace and heels and dresses.

I'm not exactly sure what Gale's training will entail. A sudden image of Gale in a long flowing dress and heels comes into my mind and I smirk slightly. Gale is looking at me curiously, then his face takes an odd look. I think he just realised why I was smirking. Lunch finishes quickly and we are pushed into a side room with Effie.

An hour and a half later I decide that I was right with my first analysis of etiquette training: it is horrible and I am terrible at it. First, Effie got me in these ridiculously high heels and had me walking around in circles with a book on my head, to help my posture or something like that. And she jabbered on about keeping my shoulders back and the importance of a lady being graceful, and it was torture. I swear, she is part Jabberjay from the way that she just repeats speech again and again in the irritating Capitol accent. Gale and I were way off when we mocked it in the forest.

Next she makes me spend about fifteen minutes just sitting down, how to sit down gracefully, how to stand gracefully, and working on my posture sitting down. And then onto facial expressions, laughing in a ladylike manner and pretending Effie is the audience and speaking. I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing Haymitch.

Meanwhile Gale is also being instructed about how to walk gracefully (though luckily for him, not in a dress and heels) and much the same as me in a less ladylike sense. I can tell by the look on his face that he is getting nearer and nearer to breaking point. I reach my hand out and try to calm him down, but Effie slaps my hand away with a proclamation of "ladies don't do that!" I growl slightly, soon it will be too late for me to calm Gale or to keep my own temper in check.

Gale erupts when Effie corrects his posture once again. "For God's sake Effie, would you stop your criticisms! I'm doing the best that I can, okay, and frankly your jabbering in my ears isn't helping! I'm bad at sitting gracefully, who cares? I think in the future I'll have more use knowing how to use a sword than knowing how to walk with a book on my head!" Effie stares in shock for a second and them tosses her head.

"It's obvious that your parents never taught you the importance of good manners," she responds.

I begin to feel my cheeks redden in anger. Insult my posture, fine, insult mine or Gale's parents, not fine. I beat him to it. "Hazelle Hawthorne is one of the kindest women I know. Don't you dare insult her, you.."

"Fine. This training session is over," Effie interrupts, and flounces out of out of the room, leaving me fuming with Gale.

"I hate her!" Gale growls angrily. "She just doesn't seem to realise what this means. We are going into the games and she sits here insulting my posture and acting as if I should be grateful?"

I touch his shoulder and feel him flinch away. "Gale."

"What?"

"We'll show her. Tonight, at the interviews, we'll come out with something no one has ever seen before. And she'll see how useless she truly is," I say, the anger spreading over my body.

"Catnip?"

"Yes Gale?"

"I love you."

"Just show it in the interviews."

"Don't worry about the interviews, it'll be fine," Gale replies.

I don't understand how he can be so calm about it. These interviews are almost as important as the training scores to determine sponsors and we desperately need sponsors to survive. And Gale isn't any more of a people person than I am, so how can he just go with it so easily?

Training with Haymitch comes next. Haymitch's training is more about what we are going to say, our angle and all that, which is a lot more to my tastes. At least this will be useful, and besides, I have an angle already: star crossed lover. Not sure if the Capitol will buy it, but it's something. Haymitch enters the room.

"Effie told me what happened. Nicely said sweetheart. If only you could be that lively and interesting at an interview."

I smile at this. "You mean I should insult the Capitol crowds? Well if you say so, but I'm not sure of that strategy."

"Not exactly what I was thinking no." A slight smile flits across his face. "Interesting as that would be. But no, you need to find an angle that works for you. Some tributes choose fierce, or mysterious or hostile. Do you have an angle in mind?"

"We did think of an angle, yes," Gale responds.

"Well go on boy," Haymitch says impatiently.

"Lovers. It's something the Capitol has never seen before, and they like that sort of thing. It will gain us attention and sympathy at least."

Haymitch nods. "It will make you look desirable. That could work. So sweetheart, how do you plan to confess your love to this boy? Your interview is first."

"Caesar Flickerman will probably ask about whether she has a special somebody at home, or if she knows why I volunteered. She can confess then," Gale replies for me.

"That will work. And if not?"

"Then I guess he can confess in his interview."

"Precisely. That will look better, don't you agree? The girl on fire, who volunteered for her sister and the boy who was ablaze confesses that he loves her. A protector of sorts. Because that's why you volunteered, isn't it boy?" he addresses Gale. Gale nods. "So Katniss, don't mention love directly. Hint though, gush about how grateful you are to Gale, that you can't imagine killing him. And play up the Prim part too, some proper emotion."

I hate how in this place, everything is about appearances and the Capitol. Don't talk about Prim because you feel strongly about twelve year olds having.. Having to murder each other. Speak about her because the Capitol freaks want some emotion, so you make an interesting piece in their games. It's disgusting.

Next Haymitch asks us questions that Flickerman might ask, getting us to play up a certain angle and making sure we won't be offensive to the Capitol. I must say, for someone who spends most of the time in his house drinking Haymitch is actually a fair teacher and knows how to communicate to Capitol people. Better than Effie, in any case. The training passes quite quickly and soon Gale and I

part ways to see our stylists.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

Portia comes into my room soon with another bag of clothes. I wonder if she will be doing the fire thing again, that really was amazing. Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire. I must say, the name really suits her. I wonder how she feels about my nickname. Do I suit 'the boy who was ablaze.' Maybe I do.

"Interviews tonight Gale!" she says in a horribly cheerful manner. "How do you feel?"

"Like crap," I reply honestly, the argument with Effie made me feel so angry and after loosing my temper like that I generally feel tired. After releasing all of the pent up anger since the Reaping Day I guess. Mostly I've kept calm so far, but Trinket insulting my parents was the last straw.

"Well I'm sure this outfit will make you feel better," she insists.

I disagree with her, but I don't say. It's pointless to argue with this type of person, and I know she doesn't mean any harm. I don't hate her personally, just that she's one of them. If anything she reminds me of Delly Cartwright, a girl at school who was always cheerful and wanted to make others happy too. Difference is, Delly was successful. Portia isn't.

She opens the bag revealing a charcoal grey suit and matching trousers with a cream shirt. Not too bad, definitely not in the crazy Capitol style. Yes, I can live with this. I go into the bathroom to put it on and emerge a minute later. I look good, I must admit. My dark brown hair is tousled and pushed back and the suit matches my grey eyes. I look quite neat, but not unnaturally so, and the buttons on the suit are made of a reflective material with images of flames running through. Very nice, not too overdone and quite comfortable.

Portia gushes about how handsome I look once again and adds a bit of pale grey eyeliner around my eyes, before announcing me presentable and sending me to the waiting room behind the big stage where interviews take place. The other tributes are sitting here too. Some catch my eye. Most girls are wearing dresses: Rue in particular looks angelic with long feathery wings coming off her dress. Most of the boys are dressed similarly to me, minus the flames, but some are different. Cato is wearing some sort of golden armour, as is Clove and they look very intimidating.

Then Katniss walks in. She is, without a doubt, the most beautiful girl in the room. She is wearing very little make-up, but she is dressed in an amazing floor length red dress. I can see tiny jewels embroidered into it and the way it moves reminds me of flames, probably the effect Cinna was going for. It must have cost a fortune, but for once I don't resent the Capitol for it. Katniss looks amazing, even better than Rue.

The tributes names get called quite quickly; the interviews have a time limit of two minutes. Glimmer is first, and she is going for the pretty girl angle. Then Marvel, who tries to be funny. As I expected, Cato and Clove go for fierce and scary. They succeed. District 3 go for smart. Foxface from Five also plays up her intelligence. Maybe she is one to watch out for, despite her training score. Nobody else stands out until eleven, where Rue plays up the victim, but says she is good at hiding. Thresh also stands out, being the first tribute to take the hostile approach.

Then Katniss comes up. Caesar asks a few questions on the flames, Katniss makes a few jokes. Nothing special. But then she gets up and twirls around. The bottom of her dress bursts into flames and they spiral up as she spins faster. Cinna and Portia have been amazing. She sits down.

"That was wonderful Katniss," Flickerman says. "Now I'm sure a lot of us have been wondering, who is Gale Hawthorne to you? Do you know him, or did he volunteer for the other boy?"

"He's my best friend," Katniss replies quietly. Then her voice picks up. "It's been a real comfort to have him with me for these last few days, but he hasn't told me why he volunteered. I can't imagine killing him though."

"No, that is unfortunate. Now do you think you could tell us about your sister?" Caesar changes the subject.

"I love her more than anybody else in the world," Katniss replies honestly. "When I left her, I promised I would win." And you will, I think to myself. I will make sure of it.

"And win you will. Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire!" he announces as the gong goes. My name is called and I walk up onto the stage and sit down in front of Flickerman. Katniss goes off with a slight good luck sign to me. Butterflies are fluttering in my stomach, I need to get this interview right for Katniss' sake.

"So, Gale Hawthorne, the boy who was ablaze. I think the whole Capitol has been wondering why you volunteered. Care to enlighten us, Mr Hawthorne? Was it for the other boy?

"I did not volunteer for Peeta Mellark. No, I volunteered for Katniss Everdeen."

"But why?" Caesar asks confused. "She is your best friend, surely you don't want to kill her?"

I force a laugh. "Of course not. I volunteered to protect her. Because.. Because I love her," I come out with it.

Flickerman is shocked. "Love?" he asks.

The whispers spread through the Capitol audience faster than wildfire. For a few moments all we can hear is muttering.

"Well, Mr Hawthorne, I wish you the best of luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour." He bows his head as the gong goes and I walk off the stage.

xXx-X-xXx

Authors Note:

Well that was the longest chapter yet! Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a review, let me know if it's good or bad.

-MoonOfPluto


	8. 8: Enter the Games

8: Entering the Games

Gale POV

Well on the good side, the interviews are over. On the bad side, tomorrow Katniss and I will be going into the Games. Isn't that just brilliant. I'll have to have a conversation with Katniss before we go in, just one private moment before everything is broadcast on live TV across Panem.

I get up and walk across the hallway to her room and knock on the door quietly. I hear footsteps coming towards me and the door swings open, revealing Katniss. She has changed out of her red fire dress into a pair of pyjamas and is looking quite tired and worried. I don't blame her, I'm quite worried myself. After all, we are going into a fight to the death tomorrow, and even with the sponsors plan it's still extremely dangerous.

"What is it Gale?" she asks me.

"I just wanted to talk," I respond. "Every moment from tomorrow onward is going to be broadcast across Panem, and I wanted just one private moment before that happens."

"Me too I guess," she says. "I hate them."

"The Capitol?"

"Who else?" She has a point. "I just want to show them that I'm more than just a piece in there games, for them to manipulate and kill. Just being entertainment for the Capitolites. I hate this!" Her voice raises. "I hate being so powerless."

"Shh, Katniss," I shush her. "You're not powerless. You have some power, just get hold of a bow and arrow and you'll be the most powerful tribute in the arena."

She glares at me and I know that I have said the wrong thing. "That's my point," she says. "That I have no choice but to kill. That none of us have any choice but to think that way. If any of us make a stand against the Capitol we will be killed, either by a 'natural' disaster or other tributes or muttations."

"Let's think about surviving before making a stand," I say. "Besides, we've already defied them slightly with the love thing. Remember what Haymitch said? Love doesn't happen between tributes. Well we've changed that."

"Yes, and a fat lot of good it's done us. We can't both survive Gale."

"Then I'll die for you," I state, fully believing that I will. This has been my intention all along, anyway.

"I don't want that though Gale," Katniss whispers. "It won't feel right being alive only because I killed you. Why did you have to volunteer? This would have been so much easier with Peeta, there would have been no proclamations of love, nothing complicated. Then the bow and arrow would give me power."

"We'll figure something out," I insist, though my words sound hollow to me. Catnip is right: we have no power here. The Gamemakers and Capitol audiences hold power. Now if we could get enough on our side.. No. That wouldn't work. Snow would see that we were trying to stir up rebellion and send mutts after us. Then neither of us could win.

"I hope so, Gale," Katniss replies steadily. "I really hope so."

"Goodnight Katniss. Good luck tomorrow."

"Night Gale. May the odds be ever in your favour," she says, reminding me painfully of the times only a few days ago, but that feel like a lifetime ago. Being home, in District 12. Hunting, school, just chatting. Prim, Rory and Posy. Our mums. More than ever, I wish that the Reaping never happened.

I go to bed. The night is horrible, I am racked with nightmares. Careers are hunting me down through a burning forest. Katniss is being killed by Cato in front of my eyes. And just two noises, screams and cannons. When I wake up I am breathing hard and sweating. I wonder if Katniss is going through the same as me.

Breakfast is a quiet affair, I doubt Haymitch or Effie really wants to talk to us, and Katniss and I sure as hell don't want to be talking. Besides, Effie still hates me for not being able to walk with my back straight and shoulders back. Bitch. I'd like to see how well she'd do if she were from District 12. Oh, of course, she would be graceful and polite to everyone. Not.

After breakfast we are given our Games outfits, black trousers, a dark brown top and a black jacket that apparently keeps heat in when it's cold. Not bad, doesn't give much indication of the arena though. I hope it's forest, that's the only environment that I am really good at surviving in and Katniss is as well.

The rock Peeta had given me is in my pocket, I forgot to show Katniss that. When she walks through the door I notice a gold pin with a bird on it. A mockingjay I think. It looks good on her, but then again, everything does. We walk through the corridor and are picked up by a hovercraft that has all the other tributes too.

A Capitol attendant is walking down giving injections and I feel a stab of guilt. I remember this avox, she was a girl that Katniss and I witnessed being taking away from the forest. Maybe we could have saved her.. At least we could have tried. No, I think, we shouldn't have. We would have been caught or killed too. I can't afford to thing like this in the games, not when Katniss' and my life are at stake here.

I wince as the tracker is injected into my arm. A short while later the hovercraft slows down. We have arrived. We are all placed on platforms which I know are mines. Sixty seconds before you can step off. I you get off before then you get blown to pieces.. If you're lucky. Sometimes tributes have had their legs blown off and have to die a slow, agonising death from blood loss.

The cornucopia glints about thirty metres away from me. I know that the weapons and supplies I need will be near the centre, but luckily I should have no problem getting there, I am a career after all. The arrangement is simple, minor stuff on the outside, I see a few bits of rope only a few feet away from me, there are backpacks near the middle and at the centre near and inside the cornucopia are weapons and tents and food.

I glance around me as the clock goes down to thirty seconds. Forest, like I had hoped and a lake. Hopefully not the only water source. A grain field is at the opposite side of the cornucopia to me. I can work with this, at least providing that there are few very dangerous mutts or the water is poisoned or the arena floods or something like that. I've seen a few where that happens, but not too many.

Next I see Katniss, about a quarter of the way around the circle from me. She is looking grim-faced but determined and I give her a small smile and nod, which she returns. All the while, I can hear the clock ticking down and I am nearly driven insane. I only have to wait a few seconds, but time stretches out into hours.

"Five."

I take a deep breath and focus on a set of knives and a sword at ten cornucopia.

"Four."

I am now on hyper alert taking in everything around me.

"Three."

My muscles tense up, waiting for that moment where the gong goes.

"Two."

My legs are ready to move and twitch slightly, it is all I can do to keep myself on the mine.

"One."

The gong goes and we all leap off our platforms.

xXx-X-xXx

Authors Note:

Yeah, sorry about the short chapter and the cliffhanger. I know how annoying those are. I'll update soon though, in the meantime, feel free to review.

-MoonOfPluto


	9. 9: The Bloodbath

9: The Bloodbath

Katniss POV

As soon as the gong goes I can feel myself running towards the centre. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins and my senses and reflexes are hyper-alert. I duck a knife and grab a backpack. A few metres away I can see Gale grab a sword and throw it to me. A moment later I see why.

The District 7 boy is in front of me carrying an axe. I have no doubt that he is lethal with it and I feel a rush of gratitude to Gale. Without the sword my only chance would be to run and in the middle of this chaos I wouldn't be likely to get far. The axe swings down and I instinctively parry it with my sword. I bring the sword up and it severs underneath his chin. Blood spurts out everywhere, some of it going on me and he falls forward, dead.

Blood is on my hands. I reach out, feeling vomit claw up in my throat. I don't even try to hold it and throw up over the body of the poor boy from 7. I grab the axe from his still-warm, but stiff hands and carry on running to the centre. With the axe and sword in my hands, the other tributes try to avoid me and I reach a bow easily.

Gale is next to me at the cornucopia and he is breathing hard. He had found another sword, still bloody and I realise that he has also killed. He also has a belt of knives around his waist. We stand back to back for a few seconds, ready to move if necessary, but nobody approaches us.

The bloodbath is now receding and the other careers come back to us. Unsurprisingly, they have all made it few the first few minutes. Cato is carrying a sword in his hand covered in blood and sports no injuries. He also has a spear on his back and a sword sheathed at his waist. Blood is spattered over his clothes.

Clove has a similar belt of knives to Gale and is also uninjured. No blood is on her, probably because she kills with throwing knives. Glimmer is carrying an axe and has a few minor cuts, but nothing serious. Madness shines in her eyes from bloodlust. Marvel has a few spears and a sword cut near the top of his leg. Not too bad. Mara is carrying a polearm with a few spots of blood on her.

"Everyone alive?" Cato asks gruffly. "Good. Pick the weapons you need and pile the other things up by the lake." I'm not sure who made Cato the leader of our group, but there is no doubt that he is. None of the other careers would dispute an order from Cato. Gale and I grab some backpacks and I take the other bow and arrows.

"It's OK," he whispers as we walk, our heads down. "You had no choice." I know that he is referring to the murder of District 7.

"It's not OK," I hiss back. "But you're right, it's kill or be killed."

We finish the journey to the lake in silence and dump the stuff. It's a lot of supplies, a pyramid almost taller than me. Our spot is probably the best place in the arena to be now. We are by the lake with all of the supplies and weapons we need. No other tribute will dare attack all the careers at once, the Capitol probably won't send mutts towards all of us just yet.

"Katniss, you and Clove stay here to guard the supplies. Mara, Glimmer, Marvel, Gale and I are going hunting," he says, a sick smile on his face. The horrible thing is that I've said that to Gale so many times. I'm going hunting. Here though, they don't mean rabbits. No.. They mean tributes. At least I don't have to go yet, but I wanted Gale with me now.

I just want to go to a private place with him and we can hold and reassure each other about what we did. Gale is better at hiding it than I am, but I can easily see that he is disgusted with what he's done and is about to do. I know Cato isn't stupid though, he won't leave both of us with the supplies and his District partner.

They leave us and there are a few seconds of awkward silence before Clove says something.

"Look District 12, this is the Hunger Games. It's kill or be killed. Get used to it. Oh and watch your back- I don't trust you."

Has she figured out mine and Gale's plan? I wonder. Maybe, probably not though. This is the Hunger Games, as she said. She probably doesn't trust anyone, not even Cato. "I'm aware of what this is," I reply. "And of course you don't trust me- 24 go in, one comes out. You'd be a fool to trust anyone," I throw at her.

"You more so. And don't you trust your lover boy partner?"

I have to smile slightly at the nickname. Lover boy? Doesn't suit Gale that well. Hopefully the Capitol will just interpret it as an in love smile. "Of course I do," I respond. "But I'm an exception. I don't see Cato sparing your life, do you?"

"Of course not. He's not a weak idiot."

"He's not a weak idiot. You saw him with knives and the sword. And he's out killing now."

"So is Cato. And Cato isn't tied down with a girlfriend in the Games."

"I don't see how I am tying him down. Eleven in training, remember?" I brag slightly. I can see where Clove is coming from, but the Capitol are on my side. And getting them to dislike Clove means less sponsors for Clove when she needs them.

"I don't know how you got that, how many people have you killed so far?"

"One," I reply guiltily.

"Precisely," she says. "I've killed two so far. And I didn't throw up after it."

"Just leave me alone. Wouldn't want to get attached, then it would be harder to kill you."

"Dream on District 12. I'm winning these Games."

"If you say so," I shrug, ending the conversation. Clove occupies herself by throwing knives at a branch and I look through the backpacks. The stuff is pretty useful, food, water bottles, a slingshot, iodine. There's also quite a bit of rope and I set up a few simple snares around our clearing.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

I see a plume of smoke rising to my left. "Cato," I say, gesturing towards it. He grunts and we change direction. The smoke is getting nearer and I wonder what tribute would be so stupid as to light a fire. It's not even dark or cold yet. As we get closer we see a girl, I think from District 8, warming meat on a fire.

Cato and Marvel laugh, closing in on her. She gives a scream and tries to run, but Mara flicks her wrist and the curved blade of her polearm is at the girl's neck.

"Going somewhere?" Glimmer asks mockingly.

"Please, don't kill me!" the girls says desperately.

Cato opens his mouth, but I get there faster. "Sorry kid, but this is the Hunger Games," I say. "And we all want to get home."

Cato draws his sword and slashes at her stomach with it. Then Marvel hits her on the head with his spear and she falls to the ground, dead. Cato laughs, but I feel horrible. I've already killed once today at the bloodbath, a District 10 girl, but that wasn't the same as this. She was threatening to kill me. But here, this girl was no threat to us. But as I had said just moments ago, this is the Hunger Games. I can't afford to give mercy.

We walk away from her, the laughter of Glimmer and Marvel echoing around me. After about ten minutes, Cato turns to us. "Why isn't there a cannon?" he growls. We shrug, not wanting to anger him. He looks like the type that would kill any of us, except maybe Clove if we are being annoying.

"You," he says gesturing towards me. "Go back. If she's alive, kill her." I nod slightly, emotions swirling inside me. Before it was just not preventing death, can I really kill a person in cold blood? Someone who isn't trying to kill me, someone who has a family, friends, a life. Maybe even a boyfriend. I don't want to, but I realise with a feeling of cold dread in my stomach that these Games have already changed me so that I will.

I take my sword and run back in the direction I came from. A few metres away from the campfire, I see the girl. She has made a makeshift bandage for her stomach and is limping very slowly and weakly away from me. She'll probably die soon, I doubt she'll last more than a few hours with an injury like that.

I draw my sword. "I'm sorry," I say. "But I have to get home too."

"I understand," she whispers. Then she raises her voice. "Goodbye, family, friends. Weft, my little brother, I'll always love you."

"Goodbye," I say to her. "And I'm sorry," I address to the cameras I know are watching.

I slide my sword quickly across her neck and the blood spurts out. In under a minute she will be dead with this rate of blood loss. After a few seconds she falls down and a loud boom sounds. The first non-bloodbath death. And I am responsible. I run back in the direction I have come.

The scary thing is now, a few minutes after killing a defenceless girl, I feel no guilt. Just the desire to succeed, to get Katniss home. The satisfaction that her death brings me one step closer to having Katniss live. Because I definitely put her life above mine and every other tribute's in this arena. "For you, Katniss," I whisper.

"What took you so long?" Cato grunts.

"Nothing," I say. "I was just waiting to make sure she was dead this time."

"Good. Come on, I want one more death before nightfall. Then we can return to the others."

"Are you OK Gale," Mara asks, seemingly slightly concerned. "No emotions getting in the way of killing."

"I'm fine," I respond without lifting my head. "Just fine."

As we are walking, I swear I can see a pair of eyes gleaming at me in the bushes, but there is no noise, so I don't alert the others. I also catch a glimpse of red, but it's probably my imagination after seeing that much blood, first in the Bloodbath and a few minutes ago from killing.

After a few hours more of walking, Cato finally accepts that no more tributes are going to be found. Dusk is setting in as we walk back to our camp by the lake. As it comes into sight, we see a small boy, District 3 I think, approaching the food pile. I can see Katniss' eyes turn in his direction, she sees him, but she does nothing.

Cato comes up to him with the sword and as he is about to bring it down on District 3's head, the boy notices and twists away. "Wait! Don't kill me! I can help you!" he says hurriedly.

Cato stops his sword. "How can a runt like you help us?" he asks suspiciously. "You aren't just trying to preserve your own life, are you?"

"No, I swear. I know how to reactivate the mines. You could use them to protect your resources. We could set up a pattern."

Cato stops and I can see the cogs ticking in his brain. My brain is also wondering about the possibilities. District 3 makes electrical stuff, so the idea is possible. But then, he would do anything to preserve his life. And what if it could be exploited, our supplies blown up by a clever tribute. Or maybe he intends to.

"Come with us," he says finally. "Show us. Do well, this decides whether you live or not."

Then the idea strikes me. If he succeeds, maybe I can persuade them to let him live. Then when me and Katniss betray, we can leave them with no supplies. This is perfect for me, I bet the other careers have no idea how to hunt or cook meat on a fire. With less of them, Katniss and I might even be able to become the dominant alliance.

We accompany the boy to the cornucopia to pick up the mines and take them back to our camp. Katniss and Clove are sitting there looking interested. "New recruit?" Clove asks.

"Maybe," Marvel replies. "Depends on how well he does."

The boy begins tinkering with the mines and cutting different wires. Occasionally he asks us for a tool and I wonder if this is what he showed in his private training session. At last, he stands back from it.

"It's done," he states.

xXx-X-xXx

So what do you think of the first chapter of the games? Good? Bad? Let me know.

-MoonOfPluto


	10. 10: Mines

10: Mines

Gale POV

"This stuff works?" Marvel asks curiously.

"It should," the boy from three says proudly. "It took me years to learn how to do that."

"Where did you learn?" I question him.

"My father taught me. He creates explosives and mines. I'm Higg, by the way. Higg Weston."

"Whatever," Clove says. "Everdeen, go bury that mine. Weston, rewire more. And don't try to run off because we will catch you and we will kill you, no matter how good you are with explosives."

I shiver at her matter of fact tone and I see Higg gulp. "Understood," he says.

"And Hawthorne?" I look up at Cato. "Keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't try anything." I go with Higg to the pile of mines waiting to be reactivated.

"So what's the deal with you and Katniss?" Higg asks now that we're out of earshot. "Is all of that stuff true? You know, about the star-crossed lovers of District 12."

"I love her," I say firmly. "Yes, it is real. You don't think I would volunteer on a whim, do you? Maybe I wanted to see what an arena is like in person?" I say sarcastically.

"No," he protests, as I hand him a piece of wire. "But I thought maybe the other boy.."

"Peeta?" I ask flatly. "No, he's nothing to me. Just some weak merchant kid, he wouldn't last a minute here." Maybe I'm playing for the cameras slightly here, but everything I've said is true. Mostly anyway, I would care slightly if Peeta had died, but not much. The only reason I really care about him now is because he's helping feed mine and Katniss' families.

"This one's done," he says, ending the conversation.

About half an hour later Higg finished all of the mines. I go with him to the rest of them and we help to bury the mines. It isn't done randomly, but unless you know the order it will look that way. I make sure to memorise the one place where you can get in easily, just in front of a spear point where the route is almost straight. I can also tell by where ground is dug up, but I might miss something, so this is better.

"This'll keep intruders out," Marvel says happily.

"Not if anyone saw us bury them," Katniss responds. I agree with her, if you know what to look for the mine location is pretty obvious. And I bet a few tributes are smart enough to keep an eye on the careers from a safe distance, maybe the District 11 girl or Foxface. To be honest I'm not exactly sure why I'm so wary of Foxface. She only got a four in training, she hasn't shown anything to be afraid of. It is just the way she looks. Smart, sly. My gut instinct is telling me that she is a contender and I trust my instincts because they are generally correct.

"You think someone would get so close to our camp without us knowing?" Cato asks.

"Yes," I reply for her. "We've all been concentrating on Higg and the mines. A quiet tribute could have easily watched us from the bushes, or maybe up in a tree."

"We normally have a guard."

I don't want to make this much more difficult for myself to betray the careers with more than one awake at a time, so I just nod and say: "that should be enough." Katniss glances at me questioningly, but I deflect it by mouthing later. She nods slightly. This communicating without speaking thing may really come in useful here in the arena.

"Why can't we kill Higg?" Glimmer asks, changing the subject.

"We can still use him. He can be our guard while we go hunting. And I assure you Shine, if he steals our food or tries any funny business then we will kill him." I nearly wince at this. With a career pack of seven going out hunting tributes the other Districts have no chance. Maybe we will even split into two groups to hunt.

After this, we all relax a bit more and go to the packs to get some food. The Capitol has provided a lot, I can almost see myself getting fat in here. I decide to make the most of it, I don't know what prey there is in this arena, so after Katniss and I betray this might be the difference between survival and starvation.

The meal is eaten in silence, with the odd asking for more food in between. It isn't an awkward silence, but we all see it to be a necessary silence. I remember when I was younger and was asking my dad about peacekeepers, he had said to me: 'never become a peacekeeper Gale. You have to stay apart from everyone, because if your target becomes human to you, not like an animal or maybe a tribute in the games, you won't be able to kill them.' He was right, though I had doubted him back then. And that's why none of us engage in conversation. We need to kill each other.

We need to kill each other. The thought weighs down in my mind as I look at Katniss. We need to kill each other. Or she needs to kill me, I won't change so much in these Games that I will put myself above Katniss. I wonder what she is thinking; I know she thinks of me as the less moral one in these games, but will she be able to kill me?

The thought worries me slightly, what if she doesn't accept me dying for her? She won't be able to kill that District 11 twelve year old, why had I thought she would be able to kill me. Because I don't mind, because I want her to maybe. But still, maybe that would make it worse. Would I feel comfortable killing somebody who loves me enough to sacrifice their life so I can live? I doubt it, but there is no way that we can both win.

After eating we get out sleeping bags. It's only the first night of the games, so I'm not too worried about mutts or weather, there has been a lot of killing recently so the Capitol should be happy for the next few days. Higg and Katniss are put on watch, and I offer to join her. She accepts, and I can see that she is grateful for the company. When I see the other careers have gone to sleep, I whisper to Higg "you can sleep too. Me and Katniss'll keep watch." He nods slowly and lies down.

I hug Katniss tight. "I'm sorry," I whisper. "I'm so sorry for what you have to go through."

"It's not your fault," Katniss murmurs back. "I killed a boy today. District 7."

"I saw. He was trying to kill you Katniss. You did the right thing," I say, wondering how she will react.

"No. I killed someone who was only trying to preserve his own life. Like me."

"Is it wrong to preserve your life?" I ask, knowing she will have no answer.

"Was it wrong for him to try and kill me?" she challenges.

"To him, no. He was trying to do the same as you and I. He had no choice."

"I guess," she whispers.

We just sit there, hugging each other for warmth and comfort for a while. I savour the moment, chances are there won't be another like this soon. "I love you Katniss," I murmur, brushing my fingers through her hair.

She shifts slightly, then murmurs back "I love you too Gale."

As the cannons go, we count them. Twelve are dead, half of the tributes. Two killed by me. The boys four, five, six, seven, eight and nine. Girls from 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. I feel Katniss hug me a bit tighter and I return it, feeling part glad and part nauseous that half of the tributes are dead.

After about half an hour Katniss falls asleep in my arms while I keep an eye out for tributes. I catch a glimpse of red and hear a few leaves rustle and wonder if it is the girl from five. Or maybe it's the same thing I saw earlier, an animal, perhaps a mutt. I decide not to alert the others, it's steps are too light to be a tribute, it took years of hunting for me and Katniss to achieve that level of stealth.

Hearing something a bit closer I shake Katniss awake hurriedly. She wakes up quickly and turns around to see the faces of Marvel and Mara. "It's our turn to watch now," Mara says. "Get some sleep." We nod and head to our sleeping bags. Nightmares plague me for a while, Katniss being killed and me not being able to do anything. The face of Cato, splattered with blood and with a sword under my neck. Marvel thrusting a spear into Katniss stomach. I know that I will not get any sleep and give up trying, just staying awake.

xXx-X-xXx

Katniss POV

Tonight with Gale was the most comfortable I have felt since the reaping. Us just being together, everyone else asleep, made me feel almost as if I am back in District 12, maybe staying a night in the woods if the electric fence was actually running. It was rare, but those were good memories with Gale and I sharing stories and cooking rabbit on a campfire. It almost makes me feel that my love for Gale isn't just a plot to get sponsors, that it is actually real.

I would like it to be real, if I'm honest with myself. Real would mean District 12, no imminent threats of death. No deciding whether or not I can kill the only person who loves me enough to give up his life for me. But maybe, maybe this is real. Not how I imagined it, but I definitely have feelings for Gale, I just don't really understand them at the moment.

My nightmares before the games and tonight have been about both of us. For the last two years we've shared almost everything. I mean, he doesn't know everything about my life, like when Peeta threw me the bread. My mind begins to wander towards Peeta and my feelings towards him. He saved my life that day, and he probably knows it too. He risked a beating for me and I'm not sure why. Part of me feels grateful to him, but another part resents him because I owe him and there is no way of returning it.

Being with him in the Games would be awkward too. Less difficult than with Gale as there wouldn't be love and knowing him well for years, but still hard. I wouldn't find it easy to kill him though, and there isn't the feeling with Gale that I can trust him. I know Gale and that can work to my advantage. We make an excellent team, especially in hunting. He brings out my ruthless side which I will need for these Games.

But he'll need my help. He seems so strong, but I can see he also feels guilty about what he's doing. The difference is that he channels that guilt into an anger at the Capitol. Which won't help right now. I take a brief glance at Marvel and Mara, who are still on watch and try to hear any animals around me. I think I can hear mockingjays. They remind me of District 12 and my father. I will be strong, I think to myself. My father was a strong person and I must be strong, for my mother and Prim and Gale. I must win, I think as I drop back into sleep.

xXx-X-xXx

Another chapter. Sorry for the delay, updates will be slower now that I'm done posting the chapters that I'd already written. I've been thinking of making a chapter soon about other characters thoughts, maybe Cato, Peeta, Prim, Haymitch and Seneca. What do you think of that idea? Tell me if you like it and as always, please review.

-MoonOfPluto


	11. 11: Rue

11: Rue

Katniss POV

As the sun rises I feel Gale shaking me awake. "Katniss, wake up. The Games, Cato wants you on his team for hunting." Hunting. The word reverberates in my brain for a second before I get up.

"OK, I'm up," I say, going over to the supplies to pick up a bit of bread and my bow and quiver of arrows. I strap the arrows on my back and hold the bow. "So who's on the rest of my hunting team?"

"Cato and Glimmer," Mara replies. "I'm with Gale and Marvel. Clove had the last shift, so she is sleeping and Higg is on guard."

"Fine." I go over to the other side of the clearing where Cato and Glimmer and waiting for me. Cato is holding a brutal-looking sword and has a knife at his belt and Clove has a double-sided axe on her back. I've never seen her use an axe before, but I have no doubts about her skill with it. I'm with the careers.

"We're heading to the forest side of the arena," Cato grunts. "They're heading to the grain field. Come on, we've wasted enough time, only twelve tributes are dead." I shiver at his tone and at the implication that twelve tributes dead by the first day is somehow not enough.

We head into the forest and I keep my eyes and ears open for tributes. We've travelled quite a way when Cato opens his mouth. "We'll try elsewh-"

"No," I interrupt, a movement in the branches above me coming to my sensitive ears. "In the trees. There's something there. And it doesn't sound like a bird." It sounds too quiet to be a tribute too, but if there is some dangerous mutt up there then I don't want to be ambushed by it.

"If you say so," Glimmer says. "I don't hear anything."

"I'm sure of it," I respond. I nock an arrow and point it to the source of the noise cautiously. For a moment I get tunnel vision as my eyes focus on the spot in the tree. Thick dark green leaves are covering a possible branch, it's the perfect place for a clever and quiet tribute to hide to ambush using ranged weapons.

"Shoot then," Cato commands. I pause for a moment listening to the rustles, then I let my arrow fly at the point where they are loudest. A quiet gasp is heard and quick rustling as the tribute tries to get away from us. Cato and Glimmer have caught on now and are following the rustling. I pick up my arrow, which is coated in blood and put in back in the quiver. I can't afford to waste weapons. I don't hesitate before quickly catching up to Cato and Glimmer.

I see a glimpse of black hair and wonder if this is the District 11 girl, Rue. She is dark skinned and has long black hair, so it could be. And she's District 11, that would explain how she can climb so quickly and quietly. What was it she said in the interview? If they can't catch me they can't kill me, so I have a chance in these Games, don't rule me out. Something to that effect. This probably is her. I feel a stab of guilt and disgust with myself for leading the careers to a twelve year old, but brush it of. I can't afford to give mercy.

"She's there," Cato says. "I know it. Climb up," he orders me.

I nod and grab onto the nearest branch and find a foothold in a groove in the bark and pull myself up. The first branch is always the hardest, but I'm good at climbing. Gale has always said that I'm part squirrel the way I can climb so high. He's always been more cautious, sticking to the lower branches, whereas I know instinctively where it is safe to put my weight.

I hear a strange sawing noise for a few seconds and wonder what it is. Suddenly I hear a cry of pain, probably from Rue and see a wasp like creature. I don't need to think twice to see what it is. Tracker jacker. I climb away as fast as I can, but one tracker jacker still manages to sting me on the cheek.

When I jump the last two meters to the ground I see the body of Glimmer lying still. It is disgusting: her whole body is covered with stings and it is horribly deformed. The image begins to twist slightly and I know that I have little time before the sting takes effect. I need to get out of here before the tracker jackers return to their hive.

I start running. I'm not sure which direction I'm going in, but some primal instinct is telling me that this is the right way. Bramble and twigs catch in my clothes but I keep going regardless. It seems Cato must have survived, I saw no body so I won't be blamed for this. If nobody kills me then I can go back to the careers and Gale.

Suddenly a large shape rears up in front of me. It has a large beak and claws and huge wings. "Mutt!" I screech, scrambling out of the way.

"Mutt!" it squawks back at me flapping the wings. The response triggers something in me and I realise that it isn't a mutt.

"Mockingjay," I whisper before I pass out.

When I wake up night has fallen and I see the moon shining. I stroke my cheek, feeling a slight bulge there and yank the stinger out. I should have done that yesterday, but I was too insane. I am lying near a pool of water, which I scoop into my mouth greedily. It returns my strength slightly and I sit up.

I am at the edge of the forest area. The lake should be quite close, I should be able to find my way back to the career camp from here. Suddenly, I hear leaves being crushed and voices coming towards me. I turn my head towards them and see a group of three: Gale, Marvel and Mara. "Gale!" I call.

"Catnip?" he replies in surprise.

"Over here! To your left!" I direct him.

He finds me quickly and kneels down next to me. "What happened?" he asks, prodding the bulge on my cheek. "Are you OK? Where are Cato and Glimmer?"

"Tracker jackers," I rasp. "That 11 girl, Rue dumped a hive near us. I was up a tree so I got away pretty lightly, just one sting. Glimmer died. I have no idea where Cato is."

"As long as you're OK," he whispers to me. "Then I don't care where Cato is."

"We should go back to camp," Mara interrupts our moment. "Maybe Cato is there."

"Did you kill her?" Marvel asks. "Rue?"

"No. She might be dead, I heard her get stung too."

"We'll kill her later," Mara says impatiently. "Now let's get back to the lake and find Cato."

We walk back to the lake in silence. I wonder how my family coped, how Prim was coping with seeing me be attacked by tracker jackers and falling unconscious. I was so vulnerable then, I was very lucky not to be killed in my sleep by some random tribute or even Cato if he found me. My death could easily have been blamed on tracker jacker venom.

When we reach the camp, Higg is walking around the outside carrying a spear. I see Clove tending to Cato's stings inside the circle of mines. "It's us," Mara calls to Higg. Higg looks around and sees us. He really is a rubbish guard, all four of us could have easily snuck past him.

"How's Cato?" Gale asks.

"I'm fine," he grunts. "What happened in the tree fire-girl?"

"Rue dropped a tracker jacker hive on you. Glimmer died. I got stung once. They found me," I reply.

Cato's eyes cloud with rage. "I'll kill that little bitch!" he screams. "I'll rip her intestines out and feed them to the mockingjays. That District 11 brat won't even be recognisable by the time I'm through with her."

"Shh," Clove says. "Stop squirming and let me take out those stingers. You're lucky I don't make you do it yourself. You were an idiot to get stung."

So much for Clove gently nursing Cato's stings until he gets better. I bet they know each other from career training. There are times when Cato and Clove actually seem to care about each other, like they're good friends. And then there are other were she calls him an idiot actually meaning it and being cruel and ruthless and he seems to dislike her. Maybe it's all part of career training not to get attached. I don't know.

Clove drops the stingers to the ground. "There. Done," she says. "And next time, I'm on your team. I'm killing that 11 brat with you. Everdeen, you can stay on guard or join Marvel's team. I don't care which."

"Fine," I say. "I'll join Marvel's team. Mara can be on guard last. By the way, Higg? Remember to listen when you're on guard, not just look. I could have easily got past you today."

He nods shakily. "Yes Katniss," he says, stumbling over his words. I realise that I could have got him killed with Cato in this mood. He will be killed as soon as he makes a mistake, I know. At least I'm lucky enough to have a fairly secure place in the careers. Until I betray of course.

I'll probably need an ally other than Gale to betray though. Assuming Higg gets killed before then, I'll still have to take on Cato, Clove, Marvel and Mara. And it will have to be done when I'm awake seeing as Gale and I aren't so good with close combat and we'll still have careers to kill if we slaughter some in their sleep because cannons will wake them. Rue is out because I tried to kill her. Maybe Foxface or Thresh would make good allies if I could meet and persuade them.

We eat dinner in silence and soon after I fall asleep with Gale lying next to me and Mara and Higg on guard for the night.

xXx-X-xXx

So what do you think of the attack and Rue? I'm still open to suggestion about other points of view (so far everyone wants Haymitch) so please leave a review and tell me.

-MoonOfPluto


	12. Tracked Down

12: Tracked Down

Katniss POV

"Something's been stolen," Cato says in a matter-of-fact tone. "The mines didn't work. You know what that means Weston?" he asks Higg. I shiver at his tone, both Higg and I know what will happen next. The only reason Higg stayed alive was to be a guard. And on his shift a set of throwing knives had been stolen. He's going to get killed.

Cato unsheathes a blade. The sword is about two and a half feet long, slender, silver and straight. I have no doubt that it is deadly, like everything else in this arena. "Say goodbye to your family," he says laughing. "I'll send some other tributes to join you soon." He brings the sword down towards Higg's head, but Higg dodges the blade.

"Please don't kill me!" he pleads. "It was a simple mistake, it won't happen again!" His eyes are wide with terror and I know that he didn't just let his guard down because he felt sorry for the tribute who stole the knives. I bet it's either Foxface or Rue, none of the others seem small enough or clever enough. Now I know not to underestimate Rue just because she's young.

Cato's sword hits this time and digs half-way into Higg's neck. A torrent of blood spurts out of the neck onto the ground, Cato's sword, his face and clothes. He pulls the sword out and brings it down again into his heart. More blood comes out and Higg slumps to the ground, what is left of his neck breaking with a distinctive snap. His eyes are still open, lifeless.

Cato wipes the blade on his sleeve and puts it back in the sheath. "One less cowardly tribute in these games," he says calmly. I feel a slight urge to vomit at how easily he can kill and wonder what actually goes on in the career training academies. I thought they were only taught to use weapons, but it seems they also teach them how to let go of guilt.

"Teams for today: Katniss, Cato and I will track down Rue, I bet she's still in the forest with that damned climbing ability. Marvel, Mara, track down the thief. I doubt it was Rue, she'll probably be recovering from stings. Gale, stay here and guard our stuff, and you know what happens if you mess up," Clove says.

Gale nods and goes over to the supplies to pick up a sword. He chooses one that is quite short, maybe one and a half feet long and leaf shaped. I pick up my bow and quiver of arrows and follow Cato and Clove away. Wearing a belt of knives, Clove looks almost as deadly, if not more, than Cato.

We head into the forest. After walking, searching and listening for any noises for a few minutes, Cato splits us up. He tells me to climb a tree and see if I can find her from above. Clove will be setting traps and snares. He will continue searching. The plan seems logical, we all agree with our roles.

I swing myself easily up into the branches, climbing higher and higher until the branches are too thin to support even my weight. At this point I am about fifty meters above the ground and I can see all across the arena. A tribute has made a camp in the grain field, probably Thresh. I can see the career camp and a tiny figure pacing around. Gale.

Then another figure catches my attention. A short way away from where I am, I see a small dark-skinned girl at the bottom of a tall tree. This must be Rue, and she is too close for comfort to Cato, and the clearing where she is standing has been snared by Clove. This is a crossroads moment for me. I'm ashamed to admit that part of me wants to leave her to die for dropping a tracker jacker nest on us yesterday.

Part of me wants to go there myself and kill her, or to shoot her with an arrow from here. But the other half of me wants to warn her, tell her to run away. The part that reminds me of Prim. But would Prim have ever done what Rue did? I know Prim, Prim couldn't kill a fly. Rue killed Glimmer, which I guess is good. One less career to deal with when I betray.

In the end I decide to warn her. My conscience will never stop bothering me if I let her die without doing anything, I know. As quietly as I can, I slither down the tree until a reach a place where it is safe to jump to the next tree. It feels pretty good to be able to fly through the air like that and for a moment I envy Rue's District 11 life where she could have plenty of food and climb trees all day, instead of the typical District 12 job of working underground in the coal mines.

I reach where Rue is standing and drop to the ground. Thankfully, Clove has gone now. Rue spins around, alarmed, before seeing me. She looks as if she is about to run, so I say, "wait! Don't climb!" She glares at me, but stays still.

"You almost killed me yesterday," she says accusingly.

"Well I'm saving your life now. Be careful where you step, there are snares all around this area. The District 2 tributes are hunting for you. And you dropped a tracker jacker nest on me."

"Why are you doing this?" she asks. "You're a career," she says bitterly. "You enjoy killing, don't you?"

"No!" I respond. "And I'm doing this because I have a twelve year old sister, Prim. You remind me of her.. In some ways."

"Thanks.. I think,"Rue mutters. "Sorry about the tracker jackers I guess."

"Sorry about the trying to kill you," I apologise in return. Rue seems like the kind of person that in different circumstances, I could be friends with. Or if I wasn't a career, I would probably try to form an alliance with her.

"Katniss?" a female voice calls through the forest. Clove. Startled, Rue takes a step back. She lands in one of Clove's snares and is trapped. "Katniss, are you over here?" she asks. She's coming towards where I am now. With a glance at the snare, I see that it is too strong for me to just break and Clove knows where I am now.

"I'm so sorry Rue," I whisper.

"It's OK," she replies, "there's nothing you can do. And if Thresh doesn't win, win for me. Please."

"I will," I murmur to her. Then louder, I shout "over here Clove. I caught her! Get Cato."

I hear her calling for Cato and then she comes into the clearing. "I always knew that snare would be useful," she says. "Good job Everdeen." She pulls out a wickedly sharp knife and points it at Rue. A few moments later, Cato emerges from the bushes.

"I want to kill her," he shouts. "I want her to suffer!"He pulls out a sword and stabs her in the arm. Blood oozes out from the wound, but it is the type of wound that won't bleed to death easily. Next he cuts shallow gashes over her stomach and legs. By this time I am holding back vomit. Even Clove seems slightly surprised by what he is doing.

After that, he stabs her in the stomach. Rue screams in agony and Cato turns to me smiling. Make her pay. He hands me a knife. I am expected to torture her. It's like he knows I was talking to her, that I like her. I give Rue an apologetic glance and draw the knife across her arm as quickly as I can. Blood stains my hands and a feeling of guilt comes over me.

Cato stabs Rue in the head. She dies, and her body is almost unrecognisable. The cannon goes off with a loud boom. I am so sorry, I think. I didn't know her death would be like this, I thought Cato was exaggerating what he wanted to do to her. It makes me feel slightly better that Rue knew, and she doesn't blame me. And if I hadn't given her a wound, Cato would kill Gale and I.

We head back to the camp, Cato happy, Clove quiet and me feeling horribly guilty.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

I lie down in the shade of the pile of supplies. From here I have a good view of one side and I can easily hear someone sneaking up from the other. Especially if they have to jump over mines. It reaches midday and I wonder where Katniss is, and how she is coping with killing. If they found Rue. I know Katniss likes Rue, she'll never forgive herself if she ends up being the one to kill Rue.

Suddenly, I hear a noise. A twig snap. I run around the pile of supplies and I see the District 5 girl. I caught Foxface in the act, I think. She looks at me scared, but doesn't run. I bet she knows about the mines. She's got thinner in the games, I guess she's been hiding most of the time. She has a belt of knives on though, probably stolen from our supplies. Her red hair is messy and the look on her face is terrified.

I feel sorry for her and think that maybe it would be a good idea to make an alliance. After what happened yesterday, I think an alliance with Rue is out, so it might be a good idea. I doubt Katniss will mind me making an alliance, but between her and Foxface I'll definitely choose her.

"Wait," I say. "Have some food." I throw her a small loaf of bread and she catches it and begins to eat quickly. I doubt she's eaten for a day and sympathy comes over me. I remember after my dad died when I wasn't so good at hunting and I often went a day without eating. She sits down.

"Thanks," she mutters. "I guess you're not a regular career."

"No, I'm not. I plan to betray with Katniss," I respond, knowing that she won't tell anyone. I'm more likely to get her as an ally if she has reason to trust me. A cannon goes off in the background, but I ignore it for the moment, though a small part of my mind is telling me that it is likely that Rue is dead. Part of me is happy, as she hurt Katniss, but it is easily squashed with feelings of sadness and guilt. I know Katniss would hate me if she knew I thought, even for a second, that it is good.

"Is it real between you two?" she asks suddenly.

"Yes,"I respond firmly. "I love her, she loves me back. I would sacrifice my life for her. But anyway, I wanted to offer you an alliance."

"Me, you and Katniss?" she asks.

"Yes. If you could help us from far away when we betray the careers, maybe throwing knives," I glance to her belt, "and we help you get food and water and all that. Do you accept?"

"I need to think about it,"she says. "By the way, my names Aravis."

"Aravis," I say. "OK, if you want to accept, I'll get guard duty tonight. Meet me over there." I point to a nearby clearing. "And tell me. I'll probably bring Katniss with me, OK?

"Fine," she says warily. "The rest of the careers are coming back," she says. "I have to go."She darts through the mines gracefully and climbs a tree out of sight. A few seconds later a see a bloody Cato approaching and Katniss and Clove.

"We killed her," Cato says jubilantly. "We killed Rue!"

xXx-X-xXx

Sorry for the late update (I was on holiday in Cyprus) .. And for killing off Rue. I've decided the other POVs chapter will be chapter 14. If you like/dislike/just have something to say about the chapter, please leave a review. Thanks.

-MoonOfPluto


	13. Fire Attack

13: Fire Attack

Katniss POV

"You did WHAT?" I whisper-shout, so as not to wake the other careers. They don't know that Gale and I are planning to betray yet and I want to keep it that way. But what Gale has done just rubs me up the wrong way, the way he made an alliance without telling me or asking my permission.

"I made an alliance with Foxface," he says, irritatingly calmly. "We need more allies if we are to have a chance at launching a proper ambush, and you know that. I made an ally."

His words make sense and the sound of his voice calms me down, but I am still angry at him. "And you arranged a meeting for tonight in about ten minutes close to the career camp? Gale, that's just inviting trouble! What if one of them wakes up and sees both of us gone? What if they here us talking?"

"They would have heard us by now," Gale says. "And we could just say something about how today is a District 12 holiday and we wanted to be alone together. Or let their imaginations do the work."

I grimace at the implications of the last idea, though the logical part of my brain thinks that it would be the most believable excuse. And besides, if we're probably going to do that at some point in our lives. Still, the idea of it being broadcast across the Capitol repulses me, and I know that it will. We probably get enough screen-time as it is being star-crossed lovers and careers. And soon to be betrayers.

"You should have told me about that plan," I insist. "What if I didn't like the idea of being in an alliance with Foxface?"

"I knew you wanted an alliance and she was the obvious choice," Gale murmurs to me. "She was the one who stole the food and knives- you know that? But if you didn't then I wouldn't have forced you. You mean everything to me here Katniss, everything."

My heart softens a bit because I know that he isn't just playing for the cameras. Gale is capable of being really romantic when he wants to be, and I am not too against the idea of being with him. "And you mean the world to me as well Gale," I reply, only partly to the cameras. "I wish we could win together,"

I can almost hear the intake of breath across Panem, probably the cooing over our relationship from Capitol, and the career districts shouting in disgust. Maybe even the other Districts have hope that even in the games, not all is lost. There is still some light in the darkness. Gale is my light.

"So are we meeting her?" he asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yes," I reply. "You're right, we need an ally if we're going to betray. And Foxface or Thresh would be obvious choices."

"Then come on," he mutters. "And bring your bow." He slings a bow across his back as well with a quiver of arrows and turns around, expecting me to follow. I pause for a second before grabbing my bow and jogging after him. The cool night breeze whips up my plait and blow stray hairs into my face as we run.

For the first time in the Games, we are away from the careers. Here, we don't have to be ruthless killers, just ourselves. I feel a sprout of joy growing inside me as I catch up to Gale. It almost feels like the woods outside District 12 where we would chase each other and swim and climb when we weren't hunting.

He skids to a halt at the entrance to a clearing and I stop as well. "This is it," he says. "This is where she said she would meet us."

A slight rustle of branches catches my attention and I immediately have my bow out, almost like in 12 where I would be shooting a bird. Just in time, I remember that it could be my future ally and lower the bow, but keeping my arrow in it, so I can shoot when I need to.

Foxface drops from the trees, landing silently like a cat. Her long red hairs swishes around as she turns to Gale. She then holds her hand up at me with two fingers sticking up, the palm of her hand facing me. I'm not really sure what she means by this, and it seems Gale is confused as well.

Foxface looks panicked, as if she realised that we are going to kill her and her hand is twitching as if she wants to get a concealed weapon from somewhere. I realise that I've done something wrong, so I ask "what did the gesture mean?"

A look of relief instantly crosses her face. "It means peace," she replies. "It's very common in our district, the way that two enemies show forgiveness or truce is this gesture. If I give you this gesture it means I have no intention of harming you. If you give it back it means the same."

"Oh," I say. "So that's why you were panicking and trying to stop yourself from getting a weapon?"

"Yes," she nods. "I thought you would kill me." And who could blame you, I wonder, after all, we have been forced into the Hunger Games with each other. Rejecting the peace sign would make her think that we want to kill her.

I smile slightly and make the peace sign, silently telling Gale that he should do the same. He does and Foxface makes the gesture back at us. Peace and alliance.

"I take it you took our offer," Gale says.

"I did," Foxface says. "I'm Aravis by the way. But my friends and not-enemies call me Rusty."

"Rusty," I mutter, testing the nickname. "I always thought of you as Foxface," I confess to her. "Gale did too."

"Foxface," she muses. "I've been compared to a fox before. The red hair, slyness and just my general look, people seem to think it looks like a fox."

"Oh. Katniss," I introduce myself.

"I know," she says. "You're actually quite famous. You know, eleven in training, girl on fire, first district 12 volunteer, star-crossed lover.. Your reputation precedes you."

"I guess," I say. I hadn't realised I was that famous. Yes, the star-crossed lovers thing was a bit different, but I didn't think 'the girl on fire' was much more than a Capitol nickname. The eleven in training wasn't much better than most of the careers, and I didn't think anybody really paid much attention to whether a tribute volunteered or was reaped.

"So why did you want an alliance with me?" she asks. "I got a four in training. I'm not particularly strong. You got ten and eleven in training. You don't need me."

"But you're smart," I reply. "People don't just win the games by swinging an axe. They need strategy, tactics. And we think you can help us."

"Maybe," she admits. "What gave it away? I was trying to downplay my strengths so I could last longer."

"It's partly the way you look," Gale says. "Cunning. Our instincts told us not to trust you. And you managed to steal food and weapons from us; with the mines in place, you figured out our trap."

"Do the other careers know?" Aravis asks.

"No, just us to my knowledge," he says.

"Good. If you plan to betray the careers you probably won't get away with just you and killing one or two. You're still outnumbered."

"Katniss and I can both use bows. Long-ranged weapons, we can throw knives too," Gale says.

"So can Clove, Marvel and Mara," Foxface responds. "Knives, spears and tridents all travel faster than you can load arrows." I didn't know Mara could throw tridents, but I take Aravis' word for it. She's from District 4, it's believable, and besides she's not the only one hiding a talent.

"So attack from the bushes," I say.

"You need a distraction," she corrects. "Am I right in thinking that the mines are not buried deeply?"

"Only around an inch below the ground."

"Use that. There are apples which you can knock off the food pile. Blow up the food. In that moment of distraction, attack."

"That's a good plan," I admit. "Tomorrow evening?"

"Tomorrow evening is fine," Aravis replies. "Meet me here."

Then she runs back up a tree and we head back to the rest of the careers. Luckily, we are in time so no one has noticed that we were gone for half an hour. When Mara comes to relieve us of guard duty, my head hits the ground and I am asleep immediately. Dreams of explosion, arrows and chaos plague my sleep.

xXx-X-xXx

Gale POV

As I wake, I can just feel something is wrong. Something is going to happen soon. There are slight plumes of smoke coming from nearby and I jump to wake Katniss.

"Katniss! Katniss wake up!" I shout shaking her. She wakes immediately and looks around panicking. Her eyes widen as she sees the smoke and she jumps out of her sleeping bag. By this time, Cato, Mara, Marvel and Clove have woken too. "Fire!" I scream. "Get out of the mine circle."

We rush over to the edge, dodging mines and stumbling. Katniss catches me just before I hit the ground on a mine, saving my life. I nod quickly and shove her to the side before jumping myself. Just as we are a safe distance away from the food and mines and think we are fine, a scorched patch of grass appears next to me.

I duck to the side as another fireball rains from above. They are targeting Katniss and I, though the other careers are running too. I catch up to Catnip and we run together until a fallen tree blocks our path. We are trapped, but the fire seems to have stopped raining down on us.

"Gale!" Katniss screeches. I feel myself being thrown out of the way and Katniss falls to the floor, her clothes on her leg charred and sticking to it. Katniss just saved my life, but she may have paid with her own. Hands trembling, I peel the clothes off her leg as gently as I can, trying to ignore her winces.

"Katniss," I murmur. "You saved my life. I can't lose you now, please, stay alive."

"I couldn't lose you," she murmurs back. "Not now, after you volunteered to save me. I love you." I kiss her gently on the cheek. It was a test to see if she was just acting. She leans into the kiss and I feel my heart skip a beat. She loves me back. She loves me back! If there was any doubt before about me dying to save her, there is none now.

"My leg.. It's not fatal-is it?" Katniss asks worriedly, spoiling the moment, not that I blame her.

"No," I reply, thanking any god there might be watching over us here. "But it's quite bad. If I have any sponsors, I want something for Katniss. Anything," I address the cameras.

"Gale- thank you," she whispers, leaning against me to pull herself up.

xXx-X-xXx

Another chapter. What do you think of Foxface's character and the fire attack? I sort of think that I didn't do enough for the fire attack, but Katniss and Gale are sort-of properly together now. Next chapter will have Cato, Seneca, Haymitch and maybe Rory Hawthorne POV. Anyway, if you have any comments you want to make on the chapter, please review.

-MoonOfPluto


	14. Thoughts

14: Thoughts

Haymitch POV:

I've been sitting in front of the screens in the mentor room for the last sixteen hours straight. Normally my tributes would have died by now or I could neglect them for a few hours sleep, but Katniss and Gale are too important. Finally, the chance the rebellion had been waiting for: a spark.

And they've finally started to show some proper love. Gale was always in it, but Katniss.. She was stubborn. But when she threw herself at him to save him from the fireball.. Genius. And then the kiss, the way she leaned into him and the way he asked for his sponsor money to go to Katniss. The cheers across the Capitol for -what was it- Kale, I think, were astounding. She deserved a reward.

I pick up the sponsor magazine and leaf through to the medicines section, taking a swig of vodka as I do so. Not enough to get me drunk, but enough to take the edge off things. To forget about the Quarter Quell, to concentrate on this new hope for the rebellion. I quickly find what I am looking for, wincing at the price.

A bottle of Capitol burn medicine. It takes up nearly half of Katniss' sponsor money and would normally be well out of range, even for a career. But these two are something special, something new. Money doesn't matter, I decide. Then I pause to scrawl a note before hitting send.

I watch the screen intently as the silver parachute floats down to Katniss and Gale. She grabs it and opens it quickly. The note is pushed aside by Gale to see what it is. His face relaxes in clear relief and he begins to gently apply the salve to her leg and hands, taking care not to hurt her. Once he is done he picks up my note.

"That's what you need to do for him, Katniss. Save each other. They love it," he reads out, looking slightly confused. I feel like smacking him on the head, could my message have been any clearer?

"The Capitol," Katniss explains patiently. Now that girl actually has her brain turned on. "They love us, that's why they sent us the medicine."

Gale's expression morphs to understanding. "They can't love you more than I love you Katniss. To them you're the girl on fire, but you'll always be my Catnip above all."

Catnip? I laugh at his nickname, gaining a few curious glances from the other mentors. Most just see us as a threat, eleven actually seems to understand their love. Brutus, Enobaria, Cashmere and Gloss are disgusted by the idea that tributes in the games could be anything more than just allies. Idiots.

I take another swig of vodka and relax back in my chair. Hopefully my reckless tributes will actually be able to stay out of trouble for a day, or at least a few hours before they begin their attack on the careers. An attack that will fail seems to be the general opinion in the room. I doubt it. Seeing Katniss in training and Gale in his private session has shown me that they aren't normal. They've the skill of careers and the attack will be with their chosen weapons.

It's the District 5 girl I worry about. No proven skill and will probably only get in the way. Gale only allied on a whim, I think in disgust. So she can steal and looks smart- is smart, I correct, remembering her plan that probably will save them. But as an ally in a fight.. Not one I would chose. To small to be of much use, unless she can throw knives or something.

The District 5 victor, Elena, is it? No, that doesn't sound right. I begin to feel slightly dizzy and regret drinking so much. Electra, that was it, approaches me. Dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep are clear, probably under my eyes too. "What do you want?" I ask bluntly.

"An alliance," she replies. "Our tributes are allies now, so we need to work together."

I laugh hollowly. "The only reason you want to work with me is for sponsor money," I state. "Katniss and Gale actually have decent reasons to work with Aravis. She's smart and cunning and might be able to throw knives. What can you offer me?"

She hesitates, probably wondering how to answer. "Insight into Aravis' plans," she responds finally. "Advice on what to send. Time to sleep." Electra sounds almost as desperate for sleep as I do, because the other District 5 victor left when his tribute got killed.

"And I'm offering you money, insight, advice, sleep and a say in what I spend," I reply. "Sounds like you get the better deal."

"Try it for a day," she offers. "And you can have a bigger say."

"Damn right," I mutter. "My tributes, their money, my decisions."

"So is it a no?" she asks, looking at the floor.

"One day," I growl. "Advice only. Wake me if something happens."

"Deal," she says.

At last, I can sleep safely. She won't betray me, she hopes for some of my sponsor money. Maybe her girl will get some now that she's allied with the star-crossed lovers of District 12. I snort at the nickname before collapsing back in my chair to sleep. Been awake for 36 hours, with the help of a Capitol drug, caffeine.

Seneca POV

"Seneca?" Plutarch asks me from his desk. I walk over to the head of mutts and see what he wants. Plutarch is probably the game maker I trust most, he's shown a flair for designing creative muttations in the past. I have a plan for this year, a secondary climax to the games involving a completely new mutt, but I doubt he's done with that yet.

"Yes?" I ask, glancing down at his screen. It shows a glowing mutt design, not the wolf-mutt that I requested, but I can't really tell what it is. "What's that you've come up with?"

"It's what I wanted to show you," he says, a hint of pride in his voice. "Something I've been working on in the past few years which I thought would be appropriate considering recent events in the games."

Something Plutarch created? I didn't know that he made things in his spare time; I thought this was just a job for him. Though I guess being in charge of mutts demands extra time outside work, as does being head game-maker. A million ideas run through my head at home and are discarded before the final arena idea comes. "So?" I ask, a hint of impatience in my tone. "What is it?"

"Oh yes, I should have explained. It's a muttation using a fox as the base design. Elongated claws and teeth, excellent trackers. Sly and unseen until they're right on top of a tribute. Can it be used?" The pieces click in my head. Foxface. Sly and unseen. Cunning. A mutt that is completely appropriate for these games, assuming Foxface lives through the career attack.

"After Aravis, or 'Foxface' I assume?"

He nods. "After the career attack, I was thinking. Maybe a day after, when they've all settled down."

I smile slightly at his timing and wonder whether to tell him about my plan for the games. I would say I call Plutarch a friend, one of the few people who are my friends. "I have a plan for the Games too, soon," I admit. "Come into that side room, we should have time before the careers find each other and meet at their camp again."

He follows me into the small room where we keep spare screens and some spare equipment. "So what's the plan?" he asks eagerly.

"Rule change," I respond.

"Rule change? But you can't change the rules, they've been in place for.."

"Seventy four years, I know," I cut him off. "I'm not actually changing the rules. But the tributes and audiences will think I am. There can be two Victors, if they are from the same District. Think about how much emotion that will bring in combination with the star-crossed lovers."

"I see," he says. "And at the end, if they're the only two left... You announce that there has been a mistake and there can only be one winner?"

"When only Katniss and Gale left, yes, the rule change will be announced. And we can see how far their love extends."

"I wonder if they'll die for each other?" he asks.

"Perhaps. I feel slightly sorry for them you know. To have such hope then have it torn away."

"Seneca?" he asks, confused at my change of topic.

"It's not their fault," I continue, "that they were born to filth. And when something rises from the ashes that the Capitol adore: their love, it seems a shame to kill it."

"Perhaps," he agrees. "I didn't know other game-makers felt guilt as well."

"Not often," I say. "But sometimes, before I go to sleep with my wife and children, I wonder about what the tributes left at home. Here, it's being pushed in my face. But it's a job. No feelings. No weaknesses."

"I agree Seneca. Just a job," he echoes.

Rory POV

Sitting in school for the past few days has been horrible. I wanted to just stay home and watch Gale or hunt, but mum says that I should at least go on some days to get my mind of it. I think she just doesn't want me hunting because she thinks it is too dangerous. Gale never got caught.

Thinking of Gale just brings back memories, him teaching me about plants, showing me snares and playing with me in the forest. And he may be dead soon. The thought of Katniss brings up feelings of resentment in me. If it wasn't for her volunteering for Prim, Gale would never have had to go. But the way she saved him earlier today made me rethink this.

It wasn't her fault, I know Gale would volunteer for me. And she saved him. But then, if it wasn't for her he may not have needed saving. My feelings towards Katniss are so confusing that I just decide not to think about her. Gale joining the careers was something I never expected. He's always hated Districts 1 and 2 for being 'the Capitol's lapdogs' as he put it, but now he's made an alliance with them.

I know he only did it to survive, but the very idea of doing that goes against what I remember of Gale. It hurts that he's been forced to change because of the Capitol and the Games. That he thinks more of Katniss than he does of me, a malicious voice in my head whispers. You hate that he picked her over you.

I try to tell myself that that's not true but I know deep down that the voice is right. He abandoned me and mum and Posy for Katniss without even thinking twice, it seemed with the speed at which he volunteered. I sigh and walk out of the classroom. The teacher doesn't question why, and I run through the corridors out of the school.

I inhale a breath of fresh air and set off towards the forest. The cool breeze and quiet calms my nerves as I run through the trees, almost silently, just the way Gale taught me. Part of the reason I love the forest so much is because it's away from all of the screens and people looking at me with pity. Somewhere I can forget about the Games.

Of course another part of me wants to sit there, my eyes glued to a screen watching Gale. But watching and knowing that there is nothing I can do is pure torture. Watching the fireball come down upon him and thinking that that was the end, before Katniss pushed him aside. But I should have known that wasn't much to worry about. They never kill off such an important tribute when they're not looking like that, they want a slow, dramatic death, often involving mutts.

But the main reason I like coming to the forest now is because it's going against the Capitol laws. Rebelling, if only slightly, to show that I won't just do what the Capitol wants me to. I check the snare line I set this morning, and smile with satisfaction at the end. Two rabbits and a squirrel. A good catch.

Turning around, I head back to 12 to sell one of the rabbits and the squirrel at the Hob. As I near the black market some of the traders nod at me with respect or give me pitying looks. I remind them of my brother, I realise. We do look alike, I suppose, with our brown hair, grey-blue eyes and tanned skin.

"What will you give me for a rabbit and a squirrel?" I ask Greasy Sae.

"For you, Rory Hawthorne, £30 and a bowl of my stew to eat here."

"You don't have to be so generous to me," I respond. "Just give me what you would give me normally. Send the rest to Gale if you want to help."

"£20 and the stew. I'll add the ten to the Gale Sponsor Fund."

"Thanks Sae," I reply gratefully, handing her the animals. I spoon the stew into my mouth as I leave the hob, the money in my pocket and the other rabbit carcass in my hand. It tastes good, I remember Gale once brought me a bowl from here after we went hunting together.

I glance at one of the screens as I go past and see the face of Cato, the District 2 tribute with Marvel, Mara and Clove. Katniss and Gale still aren't back, but I'm not to worried. If anything happened they would have been on TV and one of the people in the Hob would have told me. Cato opens his mouth and speaks. His sentence chills me.

"I don't trust them. Katniss and Gale. They're planning something. But we'll be prepared. And they will die."

xXx-X-xXx

Ok, so there's the chapter on thoughts. It was quite a hard chapter to write, Haymitch is so unpredictable and I don't feel I've done him justice. I decided not to do Cato, but we'll see a lot more of him next chapter. Hope you liked it though, and if you have anything to say about the chapter, please review and thanks to all of my reviewers and followers so far.

-MoonOfPluto


	15. Reactions and Planning

15: Reactions and Planning

Katniss POV

After Gale put the burn ointment on my leg and hands, what used to be a painful, dark red layer of flesh turned a pale pink shade and stopped hurting almost all together. The Capitol medicines really are incredible, my mother used to treat burns like this, but her mixtures of herbs always took around a day to really start making a difference. I'm so glad that Haymitch sent this of all gifts because I hate burn more than any other injury. I have since I was young and walked in on my mother treating someone who's flesh was burned off from a mine explosion. He died.

Gale is hovering nervously at my side, waiting for me to get up. I gingerly put my hands on the floor and push myself into a sitting position. It feels fine so I stand up, still amazed at how fast-acting the ointment was. Gale puts his arm around my shoulders and I know what Haymitch meant in his note.

This is what the Capitol really wanted to see: proper love and emotion for each other. Fear and us saving each other. Haymitch is definitely more intelligent than he lets on. I don't need to, but I lean slightly on him as I walk to show the Capitolites how much I trust and love Gale.

That moment where he nearly died showed me: I didn't even have to think before throwing myself at him to knock him out of the way. I didn't even care that I might die so long as he lived. And that soft, loving kiss he gave me showed me how much he cared for me. Not that him volunteering didn't show that.

I need to get my mind of that now though. There are still things to plan. How Gale will get his bow, how we can get together to make the attack. The careers don't trust us already, I know that. They don't often put people from the same District together, but with us it's even worse. I've never been on the same hunting team as Gale.

Perhaps I should pretend my leg is still burnt. The skin is bright pink and shiny so it shouldn't be too hard and of course Gale will end up staying with me. He can get his bow, we can meet with Aravis. The attack will happen and assuming it works then our main worries in the Games will be over. The other tributes, minus Thresh, will be easy prey.

I lean on Gale slightly as I walk to support the idea of my leg still being injured for when they see us coming and explain my idea to him. He takes it well, nodding and saying that that will be believable as they all see him as a star-crossed lover, so that is the plan we decide. Aravis could have helped us with this, she's better with planning, whereas Gale and I have the odd genius moments. Like the star-crossed lover plan.

The career camp comes into sight, where Clove, Cato, Mara and Marvel are already sitting. Marvel seems to have a few minor burns and they all seem a bit tired from running and breathing in smoke, but they are all pretty much unharmed. I put on the limp even more, my head resting on Gale's shoulder acting as if I am really hurt. Not enough to be useless, but a few minutes after a huge burn that will get better quickly type injury.

"Katniss?" Mara asks. "What happened to your leg."

"Fireball," I growl. "Protecting Gale. It should be better in about a day or two, but I don't think I can hunt for the next few days."

"Fine," Cato responds. "Can you keep guard alone?"

"Yes, I think so," I reply. "It's just travelling that I have difficulty with."

"You won't be alone," Gale insists. "I'll stay with you on guard." He looks around, as if daring any career to go against him. Protective Gale is probably what the Capitol want to see now anyway and he does it very well. Very believably. No one protests against his idea and Cato just grunts.

"If you must," Marvel says in a superior tone. "But you would be of a lot more use hunting."

"You don't have to stay.." I start, knowing that he will interrupt me. It makes it look convincing though.

"I'm staying with Katniss," Gale repeats.

"Well I won't insist that you go.." I say, to keep along with both being convincing and being a star-crossed lover. "But I don't want you to feel tied down to me."

"Oh, and Everdeen?" Clove says, threateningly. "You're on thin ice. You'd better be well enough to hunt by tomorrow afternoon. This fire storm was your fault." I open my mouth to protest that I didn't ask for myself and Gale to be nearly roasted, but she speaks before I can say a word. "And don't say it wasn't your fault. I doubt it's a coincidence that the first attack of this kind for five years happened after the 'girl on fire' and 'boy who was ablaze' things."

"I'll be well enough by tomorrow afternoon," I promise. "I can even come now if you really want."

Mara snorts. "Just accept that you're injured Everdeen. It's just until tomorrow afternoon." Well that went better than I thought it would. I wasn't expecting the be ready by tomorrow or we kill you thing, but I will be better by tomorrow and hopefully most of the careers will be dead by tomorrow.

"Fine," I mutter, as if disappointed.

The careers split into two groups and leave. It seems that the plan worked. Gale and I sit in silence for a few minutes, then when we're confident that they can't see us, we head to the pile of weapons and food. There are two bows in the pile, my one and a spare that was probably intended for Gale. We strap the bows to our back and also collect two sets of knives.

Gale looks like a true career, I think, seeing him standing with the arena bow on his back and belt of knives around his waist. But there's something else about it, his face. His eyes are filled with determination and I can see that he has accepted that he will need to kill for one of us to come back. It's something I've accepted too, I realise, and wonder how I look to him.

Gale reaches across and takes my hands in his. "Katniss, we'll get through this," he says. "We won't die. And I die, remember that I love you. Tell Rory and mum that I love them."

"And if you win Gale, remember that I love you too. Tell Prim and mum that I love them." The words come from my mouth naturally, this isn't playing for the Capitol. I actually mean it. I love Gale. I reach over hesitantly and kiss him lightly on the lips. He seems surprised, but pleased and our lips are together for a second more before we pull apart.

There is silence for a moment and I wonder if I did something wrong when he opens his mouth. "You are incredible Katniss," he says finally. "You will always be my only love."

I don't really know what to say to this, so I murmur, "thanks Gale," and then straighten up. "We should find Aravis."

"You're right, we should."

We hold hands and head to the clearing, our footsteps light on the soft ground. "Aravis?" I ask, slowly and quietly. There is no answer, but I hear a slither of leaves and Aravis drops from a tree in front of me.

"I've been waiting for you," she says impatiently. I see her eyes sweep up and down our bodies, taking in the bows and knives and the sword at Gale's side before saying, "I take it you're ready then?"

"We have what we need," Gale replies. "Are you?"

She opens her jacket, showing a selection of throwing knives inside. "As ready as I'll ever be. I've said goodbye to my mum and dad and sister."

"You have a sister?" I ask, in slight surprise and curiosity. I don't know why I'm surprised, but I just never imagined Foxface to have a sister.

"She's thirteen," Foxface responds, her soft brown eyes shining with emotion. "When I was reaped she tried to volunteer for me. I didn't let her, she wouldn't have a chance." Like Prim, a malicious voice in my head whispers. You might end up killing a girl who's just trying to get back to her sister.

"I'm sorry," I say to her.

"What for?" She seems surprised by my apology. "It wasn't your fault I was reaped, it wasn't your fault I have a sister." Her voice stays level throughout her response and I wonder if this is how she copes. I get angry with people in general, she gets angry at the Capitol and is smart enough not to show it.

"For this whole situation," I reply. "I have a sister too. Her name's Prim. She's only twelve and I love her more than anybody else in the world."

"That's how I feel about Tessa," Rusty replies sadly. Suddenly all emotion leaves her voice. "I suggest that we wait up there," she says, gesturing to the middle branches of a tall oak tree. I can easily see why it is a good place, we can keep a look out for the careers, if we fall we can grab lower branches and the leaves make a nice canopy over the inner branches. Perfect.

"I agree," Gale says. "We attack when they are close enough to reach the supplies within a minute or so. They will hear the explosion, then we rain arrows and knives down on them."

"Why don't we just wait until they come and use the explosion to blow them up?" Rusty asks.

"It will take more than one knife or arrow to knock the apples down," I reply. "They'll know and will get away if they see us. This is the only way we can kill some of them and blow up their food supply." I grin sadistically. "And I bet you anything careers don't learn how to hunt."

Aravis and Gale smile along with me for a second and laugh. "I doubt that they've ever had to hunt in their pampered District 1 and 2 lives," Rusty says resentfully. It was more of a sadistic vengeful laughing than an actual humour laugh, definitely. We scale the tree, me going first because I'm good at knowing which branches will hold our weight, then Gale and then Rusty.

We perch on the thick branch, mainly covered by leaves. Gale and I load arrows and Foxface pulls out a knife. We sit in silence for what feels like hours, but is probably only a few minutes, waiting for the four careers to return to the camp by the lake. Footsteps catch our attention at the same time, and the careers are laughing, probably at another few tributes they killed off. Gale, Foxface, Cato, Clove, Mara, Marvel, Thresh and me are the only tributes left now, I think.

Foxface signals at us to fire at the bag of apples. Gale and I shoot at the same time, our arrows slicing through the top of the bag. Almost there, I think, nocking another arrow. I let the arrow loose and it hits the apples. The bag bursts open and the apples seem to fall in slow motion to the ground. Our eyes are tracking the apples until one hits the ground.

The explosion that follows made me fall out of the tree in shock as the other apples set off the mines. I hear the shouts of whichever career team was coming back as the rush towards the supplies. The supplies are now in flames, having been blasted by the mine explosion. The ground around them is charred back.

It is moments before the first career comes. Cato's head sticks out of the bushes and he draws a sword, an insane look in his eyes. Clove, Mara and Marvel soon follow. All of the careers. My only thought is damn. They knew. They knew all along that we were planning something and rejoined the two groups once they were out of our sight.

My hand reaches for another arrow and from the corner of my eyes, I see Gale do the same and Foxface draw a knife.

"I'll kill them!" Cato shrieks insanely.

xXx-X-xXx

Cliffhanger.. Sorry for ending it here, but I think the actual attack and reactions to it deserve a chapter of their own. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please follow, favourite or review. Thanks.

-MoonOfPluto


	16. The Attack

16: The Attack

Gale POV

Clove, Cato, Marvel and Mara were waiting for us. Damn. They're all prepared, this attack will be harder than I thought. I quickly fire an arrow aiming for Clove, because she's the biggest threat, but she dodges with incredibly fast reflexes. I duck behind a tree branch as a knife comes spinning towards my head. The knife impaled the wood with a sharp crunch and I thank any god that may be watching that it didn't hit its target.

Katniss is firing off arrows faster than I can, though the careers are doing an excellent job surviving. I look into Katniss' terrified eyes and a plan passes between us. I fire off the next arrow at the same time as Katniss, aiming for the space next to Marvel. Katniss shoots her arrows to hit Marvel. He dodges to the side, only to be torn through the gut by my arrow. A small red wound blossoms through his clothes and a knife from Foxface into his head finishes him off. The sound of a cannon resonates through the arena.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I catch sight of Cato running towards the tree. He seems to have picked up the spear Marvel lost. My body refuses to obey my mind as I watch the spear leave his hand and fly in slow motion towards my body. A millisecond before I am impaled, I manage to jerk my body out of the way. The spear catches me on the arm, tearing a long gash. It feels like somebody ran a rod of fire through my arm and I give a pain-filled screech. Blood drips down my sleeve and I take a few deep breaths, trying to keep the pain under control.

All my muscles are tensed as I release on of the knives, grazing Cato's upper leg. I nock another arrow and loose it towards the general direction of the careers. I hear a screech of agony, Mara I think. Katniss finishes her with an arrow, before Foxface is hit with one of Clove's knives. Not fatally, thank God, but she'll probably find it hard to fight longer with a knife wedged between the muscles of her upper arm. Katniss is the only one uninjured now. The cannon goes for Mara. Two cannons in the space of minutes, I think bitterly. The Capitolites must love this.

"Katniss!" I whisper desperately. "We need to go! We've done all we can, climb across the trees."

She takes one look at my and Rusty's conditions before hurriedly shuffling along through the branches and making a flying jump into the next tree. She climbs slightly higher and Foxface lightly climbs across in the other direction. A good plan, splitting up so they'll find it harder to find us. Especially with only the two of them left. I clamber after Katniss, rushing through the lower branches which hold my weight easily.

I need to pause for a second to catch my breath. "Are we safe yet?" I call to Katniss, who is somewhere above me in the higher branches of the tree. I breathe heavily for a few moments, waiting impatiently for her response. She's probably looking down, examining the ground and I do the same. No careers- yet. I listen for any sounds I can hear, but there's nothing but the song of

mockingjays.

"We're safe," Katniss calls back. "I can see for a long way hear. Clove is treating Cato's leg back where their camp used to be." I heard telltale slither of branches before Katniss lands on all fours beside me. I swear that girl is half squirrel the way she can climb and jump so gracefully. "Where's Aravis?" she asks, and I can see that she is preparing for the worst news.

"Don't worry, she got away." Katniss sighs in relief. "But she went the other way," I finish. "So I have no idea where she is. She isn't dead though, there hasn't been a cannon."

"Phew," Katniss releases her breath. "So we need to find her." She balances on the tree branch standing easily, but I pull her down.

"Not yet," I say. "Do you have a bandage for my arm? I don't want it to get infected or bleed out."

Katniss shakes her head. "No, do you think Haymitch would be able to provide one?" As if on cue, a silver parachute falls out of the sky and floats towards us, getting caught on a branch. "Disinfectant bandages," Katniss reads the label. Perfect. I'm glad Haymitch has stayed sober long enough. My wound isn't that bad, it's very unlikely to kill me, but there is the possibility of infection and that would hinder my usefulness to Katniss greatly.

Katniss takes out a bandage. "Hold still," she hisses to me. I rest my arm on her lap, keeping as still as possible. Katniss lifts up my arm and puts the bandage under the wound. Then she wraps it around tightly, putting pressure on the cut, which is painful at first, but gets better. She loops it around several times and ties it up at the end. "There," she says softly. "All done. How does it feel," she asks in a slightly anxious tone.

I flex my arm experimentally. It still hurts, of course, but not nearly as much as it did before. I don't think it will get infected and the bandage is doing a good job to stop the bleeding. "Better than before," I reply. "I should be able to continue as normal. Do you want a bit more of the burn cream?" I ask, remembering that her leg isn't completely better yet.

Katniss takes a look at her leg, then says, "yes, OK. It's still quite pink and I really hate burns." I unscrew the lid of the burn cream and apply a small amount to the pink patches of skin on her leg. "That should be fine," she says once I am finished. "It should be better by tomorrow."

"I hope," I say. "Do you think we should go find Aravis now?" I suggest. "My arm is fine and she may be seriously hurt. Or the careers may have found her."

"I doubt it," Katniss responds. "I think they went back to their old camp almost immediately to treat their wounds. So we should go now. Any ideas where she might have gone?"

"She's smart," I say, deep in thought. "She'd know to go somewhere we could find her, but not so close to the career camp. Do you think maybe somewhere near there?"

"Perhaps," Katniss replies. "But that's still quite close. I don't want to risk going so near to their camp, especially if another attack will be on their terms."

"We could just head the other way to find her," I suggest. "Or we could leave it for tomorrow and hunt for a new camp now. We might find her whilst we're searching."

"I want to find her tonight," Katniss protests. "By tomorrow we will have no idea where in the arena she is."

"How about we search for a new place in the side of the arena she might have gone to?" I ask. "We can't just sleep in the trees here very well, it's too exposed, and too cold."

"Fine, but finding Foxface should be our first priority." I'm not sure why Katniss is so obsessed with finding Foxface, yes, she's our ally, but we can survive on our own. She can survive on her own. Us being together isn't so necessary that finding her absolutely must be our first priority. Maybe she formed an attachment with Foxface over having a younger sister like Prim, or maybe it's just that she likes Foxface. She does seem trustworthy, I guess, and she's quite smart.

I edge across the branch I'm on to get to the trunk. From there I jump down a branch at a time where the branches are the thickest and will hold my weight. Of course, Katniss is down much faster than I am, but that's only to be expected. She's better at climbing and she's uninjured. I land at the bottom with a small thud and look around for Katniss. "Come on, Gale," she calls quietly. "Over here!"

I chase after her and catch up fairly easily. We wander to the left side of the arena, more towards the grain field. I don't want our new camp to be there though, I like forest. I feel at home in the forest. I know that I can survive here. And anywhere that Thresh is is probably unsafe for us.

We've gone quite a way now and I'm beginning to feel quite thirsty. I wish we'd thought to take more from the careers while we could, maybe a backpack or two, or a tent. Our hands are full carrying Katniss' medicine and my bandages which will give us a disadvantage in a fight. Perhaps I could hint to Haymitch that a backpack may be useful. Maybe later though, when we find Foxface or a new camp.

Now we have mountains on one side of us, probably signalling the edge of the arena. We won't be able to get out, I think sadly. The mountains are too high for us to climb and even if we had the energy I doubt the game makers would allow the two most popular tributes to escape. Pity.

I keep my eye out for caves though, where there are mountains there should be caves. A cave would make a good place to stay. "Look out for caves," I tell Katniss. "If there's a cave here then I think that would make a good place to stay."

She nods. "We're far from the careers, but still in the forest. Water might be a slight problem, but maybe we'll be sponsored some. If not going to the lake shouldn't be a huge problem."

"I also saw some ponds a few minutes ago," I respond. "We could go there for water."

"Fine. I think that might be a cave, up there," she gestures forwards and slightly upwards. There seems to be an opening in the rock. I climb up with Katniss behind me to check it out. It is a cave, a decent sized one. It's sheltered from the wind and other tributes probably won't find it. It's quite close to water and near to the forest. It's perfect. Katniss seems to agree with me, she's already taking off her bow and quiver of arrows and putting them in a corner.

"Decided you like it?" I ask.

"It's fine," she says. "There's nothing more that we can do to find Foxface now. It's getting dark. I'm going to sleep."

I take off my bow, knives and sword and put them next to her weapon. "Do you mind if I give you a kiss goodnight?" I ask grinning.

"Not at all," Katniss replies and I kiss her softly. "Goodnight Gale."

"Night Katniss," I murmur.

It takes me a while to get to sleep. For starters I just can't get comfortable. It's probably because of my injured arm, a stone floor isn't the best place to rest with it. And I'm just not tired, I know that I should save my energy, but sleeping just doesn't feel right right now. And there's also the fear of my dreams. Pretty much every night I've dreamt of Katniss being threatened, being killed by different tributes. She screams for my help, but I don't come in time. I see her dead. Then I wake up in a panic to see if she's still here.

"Katniss?" I whisper, checking if she's still awake.

"Yes," the muffled reply comes. "I'm awake."

"Do you get the nightmares too?" I ask. "About dying and I dream about losing you."

"I've dreamt of losing you too," she admits to me. "Why?"

"I couldn't sleep. And I was wondering if I was the only one."

"No." She wriggles a bit closer to me and I can feel her warmth. "But so long as I can feel you here, next to me, I think I should sleep just fine."

xXx-X-xXx

Next chapter and the attack! Please tell me what you guys think of this story in a review, or follow or favourite it. And thanks to all of you who've reviewed, followed and favourited so far.

-MoonOfPluto


	17. 17: A New Rule

17: A New Rule

Katniss POV:

I wake up and yawn, looking around me. I feel Gale's warm arms around my body and smile slightly. I gradually untangle myself from him, trying not to wake him. I fail in my attempt and he wriggles slightly. "Katniss?" he asks groggily. I nod and stand up. I wait for a few moments for him to wake before prodding him with my foot.

"Gale, get up," I order impatiently. "We have no food, we need to go hunting."

"I'm up," he says standing to prove his point. "And yes, hunting. Can you get our bows, and also, do you have any rope for snares?"

I get up and hand him the bow and his belt of knives, strapping mine over my back. "No, no rope. I think we need something to carry things in as well, like water and your bandages and my burn ointment."

"Think there's anything left after the career camp explosion?" he asks.

"We're not stealing from the careers," I insist. "It was too close last time and besides they've probably changed location by now if Cato and Clove are still allies even." He nods, agreeing with me. "I don't want to nearly lose you again Gale. If that knife had been a few inches to the left you would have been killed."

"I wonder if our sponsors might give us a backpack and water bottle. That couldn't be too expensive, could it?" he asks me.

"It's late in the Games Gale. I'm not sure how expensive it would be, but it's probably best not to waste money on something that we don't absolutely need."

"You're right. Shall we go hunting then?" he suggests.

"Come on," I call, exiting our cave. The fresh air feels nice after a night in an enclosed space and a gentle breeze caresses my face, blowing strands of hair out of my plait. I quickly undo my hair and plait it again, much tidier this time. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Gale emerge from the cave. The Games have treated him fairly well. He has a bit more muscle than before now and all of the food he ate with the careers has given him a much healthier look.

The wind sweeps his hair backwards, away from his grey eyes as he rushes forwards to join me. "Shall we split up or hunt together?" he asks me.

"Hunt together," I insist without hesitation. It would probably be one of the most horrible things right now if Gale needed help and I wasn't there. And I know his feelings for me and I don't want to put him through that. "I want to be with you for any danger. And we hunt better as a team."

We head deeper into the forest, keeping our ears open, footsteps nearly silent and eyes darting from side to side looking for prey. I can almost forget that I'm in the Hunger Games now: it just feels like a regular weekend. I see a squirrel in a tree and instinctively shoot it. The arrow goes right through the eye- as usual- and the squirrel falls from the tree. If the Capitolites don't already know how well I can shoot then this hunting session should show them.

I run over to pick up the squirrel when Gale emerges from the bushes a few meters away from me. "Got a rabbit," he says proudly, holding up the carcass. It has a knife through the neck and blood dripping out- I know the the Capitol citizens are probably disgusted by it. I've long learnt to squash my disgust for things like this and I even feel slightly tempted by it. Rabbits taste much better than squirrels, even though they don't look particularly appetising raw with a knife through the neck.

"Well done," I mutter, holding up the squirrel by its tail. My kill is much cleaner than his. "I only got a squirrel." Out of the corner of my eyes, a sudden movement catches my attention. "Bet you can't hit that bird," I challenge him. A second later a knife whirls towards the bird- I'm not sure what it's called but it moves quickly. The knife nicks it's wing and my arrow pierces its eye now that it's flying slower. A team kill, I doubt I could have shot it cleanly with an arrow at the speed it moved.

We wander back to the cave, whisper-shouting Aravis name as we go. It's not loud enough so we will be heard across the arena, but if she's nearby she should hear us. But if she's nearby she can probably see us as well, so it's a bit pointless. The first real ally I had is already lost. Why couldn't she just have followed us across the arena instead of running off the other way? Why couldn't we have found her yesterday? Now she could be anywhere across the arena and unless she's staying in one place- which I highly doubt- then it will be almost impossible to find her.

I sigh in frustration at our situation and Gale takes my hand in his. "We'll find her," he whispers to me. "Don't worry, she can take care of herself for a bit. So can we." Gale seems a lot less bothered about this than me. He was the one who became allies with Foxface in the first place, it's me who should be unwilling to spend a lot of time looking for her. But to Gale, I realise, it's all about my survival. He doesn't care about morality or how I survive as long as I do.

For me it's more difficult. I love Gale, of course I do. I would risk my life for him- the fire attack proved that. But if it came to us being the last tributes standing, I'm not sure that I can make the sacrifice to let him live. I like life, I want to come home. To Prim, to mum. If it's a risk of death then I can take it without a second thought. If it's killing myself for him- difficult. And then there's his feelings to take into account. If he wants to die for me- if he'd rather die than live without me- is it right that I should take my life and make him live a life he'd rather die than live?

No, my conscience tells me. It's not right. But it's also wrong to take his sacrifice. I feel a familiar, hot fire of rage burn through my body at the Capitol. I haven't felt it for a while, more panic and confusion, but these thoughts are bringing it back. My cheeks have probably gone slightly red and but I don't care. I pull back an arrow and loose it wildly on a moving object. Another rabbit, killed by my hatred. I stalk up to it and grab the arrow from it. It's just as clean a kill as usual so I put the arrow back in my quiver.

"Katniss?" Gale asks curiously, a look of concern on his face. "Is there something wrong?" He doesn't need to ask the question, he knows, I am sure. Not what is wrong though.

"Just don't want to lose you," I mutter. That's probably the best act for the Capitol I could put on now. Technically I guess it could be seen as rebellion, but even the Capitolites must be able to understand the concept of love. And I didn't really address the comment to anyone, it was just a comment.

"It's OK, Katniss. I'll be okay. I'm fine now, see?" He isn't making this act easy for for me. I actually gave a fairly good reason for my anger that is unlikely to be seen as rebellion. He just points out a hole in my act in front of the whole of Panem.

"I've just been worried," I respond. "Ever since.." I trail off and touch his arm wound gently. "You could have been killed so easily."

"I know," Gale murmurs back. "But I wasn't killed Catnip. I'm safe."

I don't really know how to reply to this or end the conversation, so I give a noise of acknowledgement and we walk on in silence. We reach the cave fairly quickly, covering the ground in fast, light footsteps. Gale gives me a leg up to the cave entrance before climbing up himself.

It's only once we put our game down that a thought strikes me. How on Earth are we going to cook it? We don't have any matches or a way to start a fire and even so it would probably be a bad idea. We can't eat it raw, I know. We tried once, the results were not pleasant, as in we got rabbit fever. Not something on my list to do again. As if he heard my thoughts, a small silver parachute from Haymitch falls from the sky.

A black backpack. A note is taped to the front of it. I read it out to Gale quietly. "Keep with the romantic scenes- they love it. Use the sheet to stop smoke escaping." I open the flap of the backpack. Inside is a thin sheet with small holes over it, which I assume is the sheet he meant. A magnifying glass- we can light many fires with that. Some empty water bottles- we can fill those in the ponds.

"Everything we need," I say gratefully. "Thank you to everyone who sponsored."

"Yes, thank you," Gale agrees.

We light a fire just outside the cave focusing the sun's rays onto a pile of twigs. As soon as it catches we prop the sheet up above it and hold a speared rabbit in at the side. It cooks quickly, the flesh turning brown before our eyes. After a few minutes it is fully cooked and I pull of a leg. Gale takes one too and we out them into our mouths at the same time. It feels like forever since I've eaten rabbit. The strong flavours course through my mouth, juices seeping into my taste buds. It reminds me of home and from the expression Gale wears he feels the same. It also brings up memories of eating in the forest with Gale, on one of the rare days the fence around twelve was electrified.

We finish the whole rabbit quickly, ravenous from over a day of hardly eating. I drink some water from one of the bottles we filled on the way here and relax with Gale, my head on his shoulder, leaning against a solid wide oak tree. Relaxed and happy, feeling Gale's breathing and slight body movements is so peaceful. A sudden noise jars me out of the my relaxation.

"Attention! Attention tributes!" a Capitolite male accent calls out over a microphone. Probably announcing a feast or something alike, they often do that when there are only a few tributes left. Only me, Gale, Aravis, Cato, Clove and Thresh now. Six tributes left. Only four more- I don't want to kill Gale.

"We would like to announce a change in the rules." This has my interest, these rules have stayed the same for the past seventy four years- ever since the first Hunger Games. There are no real rules, just last one standing is alive. Perhaps the thing about stepping off platforms at the cornucopia as well. And the unwritten rule that forbids us from eating each other. A boy named Titus from 6 broke it once- the game makers killed him in an avalanche.

"From now on, two tributes may win if they are from the same District." I feel like jumping for joy. No longer do I have to kill Gale. The dark idea that I've been pushing to the back of my mind for weeks is gone. We can win together. It feels like the rule was made for us- which it probably was.

Gale takes my hands in his. Euphoria is dancing in his eyes and I can feel that a giant smile has come on my face. "Do you understand what this means Katniss? We can both win!" he exclaims. "We can both return to 12."

"I understand what it means Gale. Thank you," I say for the second time to the Capitol viewers- even to the game makers for changing the rules. "Thank you everyone." Gale says nothing, but his smile is enough to show what he feels. I don't know when my love for Gale became this strong, but it has and I know that it always will be.

And it seems that the Capitol know this as well. Perhaps I was wrong before. Perhaps the Capitol does understand the idea of love. Or maybe they just want a TV show with a happy ending, I think with a hint of bitterness. Calm down, I tell myself. If you become reckless then Cato and Clove might win. And I don't want to allow that to happen.

xXx-X-xXx

So the new rule has finally come. If you guys have anything to say about the chapter, please leave a review and tell me. Follows and favourites are always appreciated as well. Thanks if you've already done this. By the way, Ringmybella- thanks for the CC. I noticed that as well with the declaration of love conversations, I find them hard to write. They either sound a bit forced or ridiculous to me.

-MoonOfPluto


	18. Foxface

18: Foxface

Gale POV

I can't believe it- Katniss and I can win together. There's no need to sacrifice myself for her, I can live and love her. The Capitolites may actually have hearts. Katniss grabs my hand and pulls me up. I look into her piercing grey eyes and take in every feature on her beautiful face. I no longer need to die. It seems almost unbelievable after having accepted it for so long.

"Come on Gale, we need to find Aravis," Katniss tells me. "Just because we have a chance of surviving together doesn't mean we don't need allies. Cato and Clove might win if we let our guard down." Her statements bring me back to the reality of the Games. We may have a chance at survival- quite a good chance judging by how much we've been sponsored- but this is still the Hunger Games. It's still kill or be killed and Cato and Clove are careers. We still need Aravis.

I pace around in a circle. "But we have no idea where she is!" I say in frustration. "This arena is probably two miles wide, we have an equal chance of stumbling on Cato and Clove as we do on Foxface. Probably more since they won't be hiding."

"We should have come up with a meeting place in case we got separated," Katniss admits. "Or at least a signal."

"Think you could climb a tree and look for her from above?" I ask. "You could see we Cato and Clove are that way too. And you found Rue like that."

Katniss shrugs. "I could try," she says. "But Foxface might be hiding somewhere, not in the open."

"Try," I order her. "There's nothing to lose."

Katniss searches for footholds in the tree and pulls herself up, grabbing large pieces of bark until she gets to the first branch. From there it's much quicker and within a minute she is out of sight, above the layer of leaves and branches. A few minutes later she slithers down the tree and jumps down the last meter or so, landing next to me.

Her face shows hope and happiness, so I take this to mean Katniss found her. "She's quite near us," Katniss says. "About two hundred meters to our left. Come on Gale." She grabs my hand and drags me to the direction she gestured to and we sprint the way, hoping she won't have moved much.

I catch sight of Foxface and call out her name. "Aravis?" I call. Foxface looks up and joins Katniss and I. Now that she's here up close I can see that the Games haven't treated her well. Her hair is caked in mud, she seems to have lost some weight and her skin has an unhealthy pale pallor to it. The wound on her arm seems slightly better, but could be infected.

"Are you alright?" Katniss asks her.

"Do I look alright?" Aravis responds.

"Do you want to come back to our camp?" I suggest. "We have disinfectant bandages and some leftover rabbit you could eat. Water too."

Aravis looks at me gratefully. "Thanks. I didn't think you'd want me around anymore. You've killed half the careers, you can win together. Why do you need me?"

"Just to make the odds a bit more in our favour," I reply. "Besides, you're our ally. We wouldn't just leave you to starve and we still haven't repaid you for fighting by our side against the careers."

"Most tributes would," Aravis points out bitterly. "This is the Hunger Games."

"We're not most tributes," I remind her. Aravis follows us as we return to the cave, wincing slightly as her injured arm holds her weight for a second. I pull her up by the other arm and she joins us on the cave floor. Everything is where we left it and I sigh with relief. Nobody knows where we are except for me, Katniss and now Foxface.

"Nice camp," she says, looking around. "You got sponsored?" she asks, catching sight of the backpack.

"With bandages, a backpack, some water bottles and this thing which stops smoke escaping a fire noticeably," Katniss explains. "Here, let me bandage your arm." She takes out one of my bandages and wraps it tightly around Aravis' arm, ignoring her winces and small noises of pain. "That should do," Katniss says. "Sorry if it hurt."

"It's OK," Aravis says. "Thanks. So can I have some food?"

I hand her a leftover rabbit leg, which she shoves ravenously down her throat. Within a few seconds it is gone and Aravis is sighing with relief. "I hadn't eaten in nearly two days," she explains. "Ever since you blew up the career food supply my way of getting food disappeared." She drinks some water from one of our bottles. "Much better. So how did you know where to find me?"

"Katniss climbed a tree and searched from above," I reply. "We should have come up with a meeting place. Meet here if anything else like this happens?" I suggest. Katniss and Aravis nod at the meeting place. It's a good place to meet, hidden, sheltered. The perfect hiding place from angry careers.

We relax in the cave for a while, outside now being uncomfortably hot. Every now and then one of us drinks some water to stay hydrated and maybe nibbles on the rabbit. I never thought boredom would be a problem in the Games, but now that we've found food, water and allies there is absolutely nothing to do. I don't really feel comfortable discussing things with Katniss in front of Foxface and I definitely don't feel comfortable discussing things with Katniss in front of the whole of Panem, especially the Capitol.

Suddenly, Katniss twitches. "Did you hear that?" she asks me. "That footstep."

"What footstep?" I ask. "Are you sure it isn't just a rabbit or bird or something?" I hear a small noise and know what she is talking about. It sounds too big and heavy to be something that small. It sounds almost like a fox or a deer. I stand up and Catnip and Foxface follow suit. Now I'm fairly worried, it's either very big prey- which I doubt the game makers would provide for us- or it's some dangerous form of mutt (which I have no doubt the game makers would supply).

We exit the cave cautiously. I have my bow and arrows over my back, knives and sword at my belt. Katniss has the backpack of supplies and her bow and arrow. Foxface is wearing a belt of knives. Almost as soon as we exit the cave, a huge creature leaps towards us. I instinctively slice my sword across its nose. It shrieks in pain and backs of a few steps. I get the chance to examine it closer for a second.

The creature has dark red fur, like a fox. It is larger than a fox though, about the size of a wolf. Its eyes are a vibrant green shade, the sort of green I imagine a poisonous snake to be. As it opens it's mouth I catch sight of long, straight, white teeth and blood red gums. It jumps at us again and my mind sees it in slow motion, taking in every detail of its sharp claws and large paws.

I am moving before I know it, running with Katniss and Aravis a few feet behind me. Towards the lake, a faint voice in my head tells me. Run towards the lake. Panting, with more than one fox mutt in pursuit, I swing around sideways and carry on running through the forest. Katniss seems to have followed me and Foxface follows her.

I stagger out of the forested area of the arena near the lake and stop for a second, catching my breath and waiting for Katniss and Aravis. About half a minute later they turn up behind me. "I think we lost them," Katniss pants. "Or maybe they're gone now- I don't know."

Behind Katniss, a large red shape rears up. "No!" I shout, diving towards her and pushing her away. Time seems to go in slow motion as the mutt sails towards me, its mouth open, rearing with unnaturally sharp, white teeth. Katniss falls to the floor and the jaws clench around my wounded arm. The pain that goes through my arm is nothing like before. I scream in pure agony, as two rows of teeth pierce an already injured area. It feels like the muscles are being torn apart, that the mutt is gnawing at my arm bone.

Blood pours out of my arm. Then a figure comes up behind the mutt. Katniss- she's taken my sword and wields in clumsily. The tip of the blade scratches of the mutts nose. It gives a high pitched yowl of pain and releases my arm. Running on adrenaline, a grab a knife from my belt, ignoring the pain. I reach my arm back and throw the knife towards the mutt. The silver tip pierces straight through its eye, right into its brain.

Goo mixed with blood trickles out. The creature is obviously dead, it's head slumps to one side and it's remaining eye has closed. I stay alert to anything for a few more seconds, before realising that there are no more mutts. We're safe. And the adrenaline rush has worn off, the sharp pain of my wound bringing me back to harsh reality. I look down at it, afraid of what I'm going to see. I'm not naive, I know that bandages can only do so much. If this is as bad as it felt it will probably kill me soon.

The wound isn't as bad as I thought- thank god. It is deep, yes, but it is fairly clean. Five deep holes, no tearing of the flesh anywhere. Not much worse in fact than my last arm wound, just that it came to a sensitive area. I'm lucky that I didn't try to struggle away or that Katniss sliced it with my sword before I could start to. Katniss has taken out another bandage from the backpack. I send a silent thanks to Haymitch for his earlier gift, it was almost as if he knew that I would hurt my arm again. I stay as still as possible, giving the odd grunt of pain as she wraps the bandage tightly around my arm.

"Katniss, I almost lost you," I murmur to her. "If I hadn't seen that mutt you would be dead."

"It's you who nearly got killed Gale. Please, don't put yourself in danger for me again like that," she responds, tying up the bandage.

"You would have died Katniss. I can't let that happen and live," I reply, honestly. "You don't know how I felt when you nearly died when you took the fireball for me."

"Just don't," she mutters as I stand. She hands me back my sword from the floor. I wipe the blood off it with my sleeve and put it back in the sheath, staring at the ground. I yank the knife out of the mutt's eye and suppress a shudder as its head jerks back and the legs collapse. I wash it off in the lake before putting it back in the knife belt. I scoop some of the cool lake water into my mouth, to get rid of the vomit-taste that came with being mauled by a giant fox.

"Are you OK?" I ask Katniss finally. "Did any mutts catch up to you?" I hesitate. "Did I run too fast for you?"

"I'm fine," she replies and I get a feeling of relief. "Nothing caught up to me, but Aravis had a close shave."

For the first time since the attack I take a closer look at Aravis. Now that Katniss has mentioned it I notice a small trail of blood coming down from her leg. It seems to be coming from just below her knee, not a lot of blood though. "I nearly tripped and one tried to scratch my leg," Aravis explains. "I stabbed it and it ran off. I shouldn't need a bandage for it- it's not serious."

I shrug at her explanation. "If you say so. Don't be afraid to ask for a bandage if you need one though: you're our ally, we don't mind giving you one." I look to Katniss for confirmation and she nods slightly.

"It's not that, I just don't need one," Foxface responds. "Look, I had no trouble taking your food and bandages earlier, what makes you think I'd have problems now?"

"Just making sure," I reply, and pick up the backpack. "We should get back to our cave, I bet Cato and Clove our staying somewhere near the lake." Katniss and Aravis pick up their weapons and follow me back, retracing our footsteps across the trail we ran across before, something tells me it's the quickest route back.

xXx-X-xXx

And Aravis is back. Hope you liked the chapter, and as always, please favourite, follow or review. Thanks for reading!

-MoonOfPluto


	19. The Feast

19: The Feast

Katniss POV:

"Attention! Attention tributes!" I groan quietly at the voice over the microphone. I was just drowsing, nearly asleep when it came. Gale and Aravis are sitting next to me; both have part excited, part apprehensive looks on their faces. "I would like to announce a feast tonight at the cornucopia. There will be an item there that will help each of your teams to survive. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour."

A feast. Well I guess that was expected, what else would the game makers have planned. An item that will help us to survive though. I have no idea about Foxface, but Gale and I have pretty much everything that we need. To survive anyway. We have weapons and water and bandages. We can hunt. I can't think of much, but I'm sure that there is something there for us. Otherwise the feast probably wouldn't have been announced.

"Shall we go?" Gale asks, breaking the silence. I turn around to look at him and Aravis.

"Yes," Aravis responds, almost too eagerly.

"Wait," I say. "We have no idea what might be there for us. Is it worth the risk? Cato and Clove and Thresh will be there too."

"And why are you so keen to go?" Gale asks, catching on that Foxface is a bit too eager.

"Well you heard, something that will help us to survive. If the other tributes get their gifts and ours then we're at a disadvantage. In fact, it's likely that Cato and Clove will get everything, they're in an alliance." Foxface's reasoning is decent, but my gut instinct is telling me that there's something that she's hiding, something big.

"Any idea what you'll get?" I ask, trying to sound offhand so there'll be more chance that she'll tell me.

Aravis stiffens up. So she is hiding something. Then she relaxes and I wonder if I imagined it. "No, no idea," she replies. "But something is better than nothing."

"Really?" Gale asks. "No idea?" So he caught onto it as well, that she's hiding something from us. His voice is concerned, but serious and holds a hint of a threat. She probably doesn't know that though, she doesn't know him well. He's being a bit too serious about this though, for some reason he doesn't seem to like Foxface all that much. Sees her as an ally, a resource, not really as a human being. Perhaps it's just the Games, but maybe it's because his instincts are telling him that there's something off about her.

"Medicine," she sighs out. "When you were gone I got chased by a snake. I managed to behead it, but it bit me. I think it was poisonous." Pulling up her trouser, she shows us a small bite mark just above her ankle. It consists of two small holes, which are a dark red colour. "Slow-acting," she says. "I've been feeling a bit ill since it happened."

"How long ago was this?" I ask worried. Snake bites weren't common in 12 but occasionally someone who had been hunting in the forest would be bitten by a poisonous snake. They didn't have long to live, only about two days, and my mother didn't have any cure for snake venom. They always died.

"Just before you found me," she replies. "It was chasing me and just before you found me it bit me and I beheaded it." So it wasn't just a coincidence. It was probably a muttation, sent by the game makers to chase her towards us. They want her to be our ally. But still, it's good news. It shouldn't be too late for an anti-venom to work.

"We should go," I decide, looking to Gale for agreement. "This is essential for you and useful for us. Worth the risk."

"Worth the risk," Gale says. "But only if we have a plan. I'm not willing to risk just running out there to grab our gifts and hoping for the best. The feast will probably be in about an hour. Any ideas?"

"I have an idea," Foxface says. "I thought of it while watching past Hunger Games. What if we hide in the cornucopia before the feast. That way when we run out we only have half the way. If one of us stays behind to protect and two of us hide we should be fairly safe." Interesting idea. If me and Aravis go, and leave Gale with a bow to protect us we have a good chance at surviving.

"I guess that could work," Gale says reluctantly. "But which two of us should go?"

"I'll go," Aravis says. "It's my fault we have to go in the first place and I'm not brilliant with long ranged weapons."

"I want to go too," Gale says. "I can run the fastest and Katniss, you can protect us because you're best with a bow."

"You're injured though," I remind him. "And you are nearly as good as me. Seeing as I'm the least injured I should go because if you get any more injuries you might die Gale."

"I suppose," he says. "So you and Aravis, agreed?" Me and Aravis nod. "We'd better get going if we want to be there before the Capitolites then." He lifts up the bow and arrows and straps it over his back. "Katniss, you take some knives and my sword. Aravis, you have knives."

I lift the sword. Heavy. I've only used it twice before: when I was protecting Gale and at the bloodbath. It's not my favourite weapon, but for close distance fighting it should do fine. I have knives anyway. I take about half of the knives and put them in my pockets. Aravis takes the knife belt and puts it around her waist. We are well prepared for this feast.

We head towards the cornucopia quickly and quietly. None of us speak, Foxface is travelling through the trees. She told me earlier that she spent a lot of training time practising climbing and she was natural at it. Gale is in front of me, his posture tense: back straight and head looking down slightly. We reach the edge of the woods, where the trees abruptly stop, leaving the forest and becoming short grass.

The cornucopia glints about twenty meters away from us. The golden rays of light coming from it make it painful to look at. A large table is stood next to the horn, a cloth draped over it. "Good luck," Gale whispers to us and kisses me gently on the cheek. "Stay alive," he recommends grimly. I leave towards the table and with Foxface behind me while Gale pulls himself up a tree.

Foxface and I hide under the tablecloth and I give Gale a small thumbs up. I seems like forever before we hear the loud noise of a Capitol helicopter. From our spot under the table we see a woman with long red hair tied back in a tight ponytail. She carries four backpacks, one that reads 12, and the others 5, 11 and 2. She places them on the table before leaving back into the helicopter. I feel Foxface breathe faster for a few seconds until the Capitolite leaves.

"Now!" Foxface whispers quickly to me.

We run out from under the table. I grab the 12 backpack and sling it around my wrist so I don't drop it. Foxface already has the 5 one and is running towards the side of the woods. I see Clove and Thresh running towards their bags, presumably Cato is waiting behind to protect Clove. Before I know it, I am running. I hear footsteps behind me and I instinctively duck. A knife whirls above my head, embedding itself in a tree a few feet away from me.

Just a few more meters, I think, my heart thudding. Suddenly, I am dragged to the ground. Clove sits on top of me triumphantly. She smiles sadistically and reaches out of her jacket for a long, serrated hunting knife. Come on Gale, I think, where are you? I need you. I wriggle desperately for a few seconds, but Clove's weight on my legs makes it pointless.

"Forget it Everdeen," Clove says, an insane glint in her eyes. "I've got you. I'm going to kill you. Waiting for lover boy? It'll be too late, I doubt he's even here tonight, is he? I got a good knife in him last time." Her words give me a glimmer of hope. If she doesn't know Gale is here she won't be paying attention for his attack.

"Now where to begin?" Clove asks herself, twirling the knife in front of my nose. I would stab her, but she is sitting on where I kept the knives. If I could just get her off me.. "I think I'll start with the lips. Doesn't that sound like fun to you?" She's insane. There's no question about it.

The tip of her knife touches my upper lip and she delicately carves a line. It feels like pure agony, an icy cold line of pain. I taste blood in my mouth and panic even more. "Won't be able to kiss lover boy properly for a long time now," she says happily. Suddenly she gets off slightly with a cry of pain. An arrow is embedded in her arm.

I take the opportunity to kick her in the stomach. Another arrow comes and I run away, leaving it between the other tributes. Thresh is rushing towards Clove and I manage to get to the forest and climb a tree. I perch on the branch and wipe the blood from my mouth. I feel it smudge across my cheek and the sharp taste of it is still there. I wonder how bad it is.

A few moments later Gale and Foxface are standing next to me. Gale wraps his arms around me immediately and hugs me tightly. "Katniss, you're alive. I'm so sorry I didn't get there faster, I was shooting Cato."

"It's fine," I mutter, wiping more blood away from my mouth. "I didn't die or anything. And I got the backpack." I hold up the small bag with the 12 on it. "How injured is Cato?"

"Arrow in his leg," Gale replies. "I only needed to stop him helping Clove and it was hard to hit a moving target."

"We should go back to the cave," Foxface suggests. "See our gifts there."

We walk back to the cave; I hold hands with Gale. Every so often I need to wipe a bit of blood off my face with my sleeve. It takes the rest of the journey to stop my heart from beating so fast from terror and get back to a normal rhythm. Clove was mad, completely mad. Back when we were in the careers she wasn't that crazy, I hope the games haven't and won't do that to me. We reach the cave and climb in.

Foxface opens her bag. Inside is a small syringe and a piece of paper. "Inject into the vein," she reads. "Use all of the anti-venom." I offer to do it for her and she accepts. Steadying my hand, I pierce the surface of her skin with the needle. It slowly goes down into the vein and I gradually empty the syringe.

"Done," I say when I'm finished. I hear Aravis sigh in relief. "What's in our bag Gale?" I ask.

Gale opens our bag. Inside is a small bottle filled with capsules. "Cyanide," he reads the label. "One capsule will kill a tribute within one minute." He looks up at me. "Poison. They gave us poison."

"So we can poison other tributes?" I ask curiously. "Like the careers or Thresh."

"I guess so," Gale replies. "They've given us a plan. Maybe it was worth going to the feast."

"Maybe it was," I reply. "If you didn't nearly get tortured and killed. I'm going to sleep now, OK?" I tell him. The feast was exhausting. Even though it isn't dark yet I still need to sleep. Besides, tomorrow will be a long day. We need to find the career camp- I bet they'll have moved it- and manage to poison the career food with cyanide.

xXx-X-xXx

So that was the feast. What did you think of the gifts that I gave District 12 and Foxface? Believable? Well please leave a review telling me and thanks to all of you who already have reviewed, followed or favourited.

-MoonOfPluto


	20. Searching

20: Searching

Gale POV:

I wake up in the cave, Katniss slumped down next to me. I yawn loudly and nudge her and Aravis awake. Waiting for them to get up, I take a look outside. The sun is just rising, casting bright rays over the forest. It must have rained here last night because the ground around us is wet. I turn around when Katniss prods me in the back.

"Come on Gale," she says. "We don't have time to be sitting watching the sunrise. We're low on food, low on water and we need to find the career camp so we can poison their food."

"You decided to go through with that?" I ask.

Katniss shrugs. "It's the best plan we've got, other than sit in our cave and try to outlast them until something forces us out."

Aravis comes up behind us. "You can hunt?" she asks.

"Yes, it's how we got the food we gave to you when we found you," I reply. "We've been sponsored quite a lot, but Haymitch hasn't sent us anything that we couldn't get by ourselves."

"I haven't been sponsored much at all," Aravis admits. "My mentor Electra sent me a loaf of bread near the beginning of the games, before I found the career camp, but that was it. I probably don't have that many sponsors. Who wants to sponsor the average girl from 5 when the can give to the star-crossed lovers of District 12 or the careers or Thresh?" she asks bitterly.

"Maybe it's just that you've been doing well without sponsors," Katniss suggests, just to cheer her up a bit. It's fairly obvious that that isn't the reason that Aravis didn't get sponsored much. "And you're hardly average- you're in the final six. If you were average you would probably have been a bloodbath tribute," she continues.

"Thanks for trying, but I know that I'm not sponsored because there are others that they like better. And I ran away from the bloodbath- I'm not stupid enough to think that I could survive that," Foxface replies. "So, you were going hunting?"

"Yes, we're going hunting," I reply. "Are you and Katniss OK from yesterday?"

Aravis nods. "The anti-venom worked really well."

"I'm fine," Katniss says. "My cut wasn't bad, it wasn't deep, it's already healed over." I look at her and see that she is right, all that is left is a small scratch that could have easily come from something simple like the barbed wire fence in 12. "It's your arm I'm more worried about, how is it?"

I shrug. "It's fine I guess. I mean, I can feel it, but it's not that bad." Maybe I lied slightly there. It hurts- actually quite a bit. But I can still function and it's not infected or life- threatening, therefore saying that it is not that bad could be considered true. I just don't want Katniss to worry too much about me though, or try and protect me more, or not let me help her. "So, hunting?" I suggest, changing the subject.

We exit the cave and split up in a small area. Close enough to hear an ally's cries for help- hopefully- and get there in time for them to be safe. I will never forgive myself if something happens to Katniss and I am not there to protect her. Like at the feast. Yes, I was protecting her by shooting Cato, but I still had to watch her terror as Clove nearly mutilated her face. Thank god the cut wasn't deep- probably wont even leave a scar.

I stalk towards the source of a rustling noise. Not big enough to be a tribute. Prey. As I put an arrow in my bow, my mouth waters at the thought of sinking my teeth into some freshly cooked rabbit. Just like in District 12, which Katniss or with Rory and Posy. My mind wanders towards them. I wonder how they are coping with my absence. Is Rory hunting for them? How is Posy getting on?

I shake the thoughts away and release the arrow. There is a small squeak of pain and more rustling, with stops after a second. I push away the bush and see what I shot. A squirrel, an arrow straight through its heart. A perfect shot- now why couldn't I have done that yesterday? I yank the arrow out, ignoring the unpleasant squelch of the flesh and the blood that comes out. I stick the arrow back in the quiver.

After debating whether to hunt more or find Katniss and Aravis, I decide to find the others. They've probably caught something and our catch won't keep for long. A squirrel and one or two other things should be enough to feed us for the day- it's more than I got in District 12 even because of sharing with my mum, Posy and Rory. I wish I was back with them.

I catch a glimpse of fiery red hair and sneak up behind Aravis. Appearing behind people is a trick I've always enjoyed, I've always been proud of my ability to sneak up to people undetected. It should be useful in our plan to poison the career's food- only sneaking past them to kill them, not behind them to surprise people for fun. I feel slightly sick at what's been happening- I've got into the Games. I'm using my skills to kill people without remorse- like a career. Like the people that I've always detested.

"Aravis," I say once I'm right behind her.

She whirls around on me with a knife out. Glaring, she puts the knife back in the belt. "You scared me," she accuses. "I thought you were another tribute." Guiltily, I remember that I would have probably reacted the same way. It was good for me to practise my stalking, but not on my ally in the games. If she was quicker she could probably have stabbed me.

"I'm sorry," I reply. "Just practising being unnoticed for this poisoning the career's food. It worked- didn't it?"

"Yes, it worked," she mutters irritatedly. "Like you couldn't tell."

"No need to be so stressed about it," I respond. "I scared you a bit, that's all. Nobody got injured or killed."

Aravis sighs. "You could have though. If I was a bit quicker with that knife.." she trails off. I open my mouth to say something, but she speaks before I can. "If I was a better tribute," she bursts out. "If you were a career, I would be dead by now," she says honestly. "I've been too blasé about these games ever since I became your ally. Running from mutts, going to the feast- if I keep thinking that being your ally will make me safe and keep making reckless decisions then I'm going to get killed sooner or later."

I mull over her words for a few minutes. Thinking about it, Aravis has been a lot more reckless since becoming our ally. She's still been more careful than us with quite well thought through plans, but she has been a lot more willing to take risks. Before she was hiding all the time, now she's in the open, hunting. She's a lot less elusive to every tribute now, not just us. They see her as a contender.

"The feast was a necessity for you," I say, choosing my words carefully. "Although you are right- being mine and Katniss's ally has put you in the crossfire. You had to take more risks."

"Perhaps," Aravis replies. "I'm also getting a bit attached to you. That was one of my biggest fears in the games," she admits. "Making friends with tributes. Having allies who would risk their lives for me- like you and Katniss did at the feast. I hadn't intended to make allies," she continues. "My original plan was to outlast the others using cleverness, but when you needed an extra person for your attack on the careers it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

"Because they were the biggest threat and you would need to show yourself sooner or later- the game makers would force it," I complete nodding. That makes sense, she joined us to get rid of the bigger threats- the career pack. But in the process we've become the bigger threat and now we will find it hard to kill her. Her plan to survive with our alliance worked spectacularly, even if it did put her in the crossfire.

"Yes," Foxface nods. "A single tribute against a six person alliance would almost certainly die. I thought that the career pack would break up or be attacked without me being involved though, so I could just wait until they destroyed themselves without anyone seeing me as much of a contender. But now I'm part of the strongest alliance."

Thinking about it, Katniss, Aravis and I are the biggest and strongest alliance. Cato and Clove are second best. It isn't very often that there is an alliance between more than two people this late in the games, even less common that the strongest alliance doesn't contain any careers.

There is a moment of awkward silence between us.

"We should find Katniss," I state, changing the subject. "I caught a squirrel so far, you?"

"Nothing yet," she replies. "Do you know where Katniss went?"

I gesture at the general direction Katniss was hunting in and set off, picking up my rabbit as I go. Aravis hurries after me. We find Katniss quickly, she has caught a rabbit. Enough prey to feed all of us, I think. We light a fire and use the sheet to stop smoke from escaping. We heat the rabbit and squirrel and feast on our game. We are all pretty quiet whilst eating, sometime sharing our thoughts. Just a normal meal in the woods.

When we are finished, Katniss pulls me up. "I think I found the career camp when I was hunting," she informs us. "I'll show you where it is, Cato and Clove weren't there." Following Katniss, I wonder where the District 2 camp is. Cato and Clove are probably hunting, maybe us. Maybe Thresh though, he's still a contender. I'd forgotten about him over the last few days, but he has a chance at victory.

After around fifteen minutes of walking, Katniss pulls back some branches. "Here it is," she whispers, gesturing to a clearing. "Do you have the cyanide?" I nod and pull the small bottle out of my backpack. I look around the clearing. Cato and Clove have been sponsored since we last saw them. They also have a backpack, full of food and sleeping bags. Some spare weapons are littered on the floor and the District 2 backpack from the feast is on the floor.

I take a look inside it, but it is empty. I wonder what Cato and Clove were given, what gift would they need to help them survive? Maybe it was something that would help them kill us, I think anxiously. I pick up a knife from the floor and fiddle around with it in my hand for a few seconds. Something doesn't feel right- like we should get out of here fast. Maybe it's just being in an enemy camp. I shrug off the feeling and put the knife in my belt. An extra weapon can't hurt.

I unscrew the cap of the cyanide bottle and pour some of the pills out onto my hand. I can probably easily put them in the career water and food, they are very small. I take a loaf of bread from their backpack and slowly press the cyanide capsule in, being careful not to break it. The bread is left looking normal, nobody could tell that it is poisoned.

I put another capsule in their water bottle before the anxious feeling comes back. I hear a twig snap behind me. Looking back for a second, I see Katniss. Her face morphs into a scared look and her mouth opens. "Gale, run!" she shouts. I grab a sword from the floor and run towards her. She starts running too and I see the faces of Cato and Clove in front of us.

They caught us at their camp. Our plan has definitely backfired.

xXx-X-xXx

Sorry for the long wait between updates, I was on holiday and there was no Internet access. I hope you enjoyed the (rather late) chapter and as usual, please review, follow or favourite. Thanks.

-MoonOfPluto


	21. Caught

21: Caught

Gale POV

Cato and Clove are standing in front of me. Making a split-second decision, I know that if I run they will catch me. Katniss, Aravis and I will have to fight. If I use a sword, Cato will kill me in a second. My bow is useless, so I pick up a weapon from the floor. It is a polearm, the same type of weapon Mara used to use. The one Katniss trained with in the Capitol training room what feels like so long ago. Luckily she gave me a few tips on how to use it.

I swing it forward, gripping it with two arms and Cato jumps backwards. He pulls out a sword and runs in towards me. I walk backwards clumsily and sweep the polearm down towards his feet. He jumps and my swing misses. I make another attempt to stab him in his torso and Cato leans backward, laughing.

Laughing. He thinks that this is funny, my attempts to stay alive are amusing. Dodging a swing from his sword by a centimetre, new anger fills me and drive the polearm into his upper leg. Cato gives a scream of pain that chills me to my bones and in my moment of elation of getting a hit, he swings his sword.

Heart beating wildly, I try to block with the polearm. I manage- just- and the blade of his sword slides down the metal of the polearm with an unpleasant noise. The silver metal of the sword bites into the skin on the back of my hand and I gasp with the sudden, cold pain of it. In my moment of distraction, he hits my leg with the sword leaving a long, shallow, painful wound.

Then Cato kicks me in the stomach and I fall to the ground. Cato stands over me triumphantly. I look him into the eyes for the first time. I will not give him the pleasure of me pleading for my life and the floor. I may die, but I refuse to die a coward's death. Cato's blue eyes are bloodshot and his long, sandy blonde hair is matted with a mixture of dirt and blood. He looks like a pure, heartless monster, the type of insane villains that I found in stories when I was younger.

He raises the sword. "I'll see you in hell, flame-boy," he mocks me. "Say hello to that pathetic District 8 girl for me." He laughs again. "I knew you would betray us, I knew you felt sorry for her. Well now you can join her. I'll send you some friends soon too." He glances towards Katniss. I follow his gaze. Katniss is fighting Clove. She has the upper hand, but then she sees me looking.

Cato brings the sword down towards my head and time seems to slow down. I see Katniss scream in frustration and jump. I want to shout at her to go back, to fight Clove, but my lips are frozen. Katniss gets there just in time and uses her arm to sweep the blade of the sword away. It pierces the skin, but she doesn't seem to notice.

She punches Cato in the face, breaking his nose and knocking the sword away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Clove coming up behind her with a knife. Also, Cato is recovering and is about to kick her in the stomach. "Katniss!" I shout. "Run!" I take off into the bushes and I can hear Katniss behind me.

Hearing Cato and Clove give chase, I put on an extra burst of speed. Due to my leg wound, I'm panting already. Cato is rapidly catching up to me and soon I see the silver glint of his sword. I throw myself forward even faster, but he is too quick for me. He catches my leg and has me on the floor again.

"You're not getting away that easily," Cato says threateningly, holding the sword under my neck. "No star-crossed lover to save you this time," he continues, grinning smugly. I glare at him and try to twist myself to the side, but Cato just shifts and the sword is under my neck again.

I crane my neck and try to look behind him to find a way out. If I kick him where it would hurt then I might have time to escape. To my surprise, I see Aravis. She has a knife in each hand and she gestures to me to get ready. I find my hand close around the hilt of a throwing knife as I shift my body weight, managing to get Cato off enough to kick him in the groin.

He screams in fury and I throw the knife. It seems like it is raining knives around me as Aravis throws her knives and takes more out and throws them. Most of the throws either miss or are dodged, but my knife hit him in the leg and one of hers hit his shoulder. I take off running again and I hear Aravis behind me.

As soon as Cato is a safe distance behind me, I throw myself up a tree and climb to the first branch. A minute later, Aravis joins me and Katniss is already there. "I heard you coming," she explains how she got here. Our hearts are thudding and we are all breathing hard.

"Did we lose them?" Katniss asks, panting.

"I think so," Aravis replies. "Are you OK Katniss?"

"I'm fine," she responds, catching her breath. "Where were you?"

"She was helping me," I answer for her. She seems surprised at this, I look like the one fighting careers, not Aravis. During the fight, I was the one fighting Cato. "Cato caught up to me and nearly caught me, but she threw knives," I explain. "One hit him in the shoulder, that's why he stopped."

Aravis nods. "Gale got injured," she states. "Do you have any of those bandages left?" she asks.

Katniss searches through the backpack and takes out the pack of bandages. "Yes, a few," she replies. "Where were you injured?"

"Hand and upper leg," I reply. Katniss takes a look at my hand. There is a wound from where Cato cut me after my block with the polearm. Luckily it's not deep, but it is still quite painful. Blood still oozes sluggishly and of it and it has pieces of dirt and leaf in it from the chase. I'll need to wash it before she can bandage it, I know that much just from seeing Katniss mother and Prim working when I went around to their house sometimes.

She pours some water from one of our bottles onto my hand and cleans out the dirt as best she can before wrapping a bandage around the wound. Then I take a look at my leg. This wound is definitely nastier, I'm surprised I managed to escape the careers with it. It is about six inches long and a centimetre deep and is still bleeding strongly. Also very painful now that the adrenaline rush has worn off.

At least it is clean, I think, trying to look on the bright side. Katniss takes a bandage and wraps it around my whole upper leg, thickly to stop the bleeding. I wince and shift in pain as she does it and at one point I make a loud noise of pain. She hates causing me pain, I know that, so she finishes as quickly as possible.

I take a look at Katniss. She seems not to have too bad injuries- a scratch on her hand where she grabbed Cato's sword to save me and a shallow cut on her arm, probably from fighting Clove. Katniss bandages her own cut. Aravis seems pretty much unharmed- she wasn't fighting Cato or Clove close up so that's only to be expected though.

After we are all bandaged up and have caught our breath, we wander back to the cave. It is a relief when we finally reach- walking with an injured leg is slow and painful. Not fatal though, so I guess I'm lucky. Or as lucky as a man in the Hunger Games can be at least. And Katniss is still alive.

I collapse on the cave floor and lie down, resting. Katniss sits next to me, arms around me and Foxface just sits awkwardly off to the side. Even though she probably saved my life earlier, I don't want her here now. This is a moment between me and Katniss; I don't want her or the rest of Panem looking in.

I rest my head on Katniss's shoulder and just sit, enjoying her warmth. I feel our breathing synchronise and I can tell she feels comfortable like this too. It's one of the best moments of the games: no danger, just peace and me and Katniss together. If I don't think about it, I can almost forget that we still have to kill tributes and that the whole of Panem is looking in on us. I can forget all of the stress and just concentrate on my love for Katniss.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a small silver parachute float down from the sky and land outside our cave. I get up and collect it, wondering what is inside. Katniss and Aravis lean over me as I open the package. It is another packet of disinfectant bandages and a small note is attached.

You're running out. Keep having moments like that and you have the best chance of survival. -Haymitch

The message is fairly easy to understand. The Capitol people like the dramatic romantic moments such as where Katniss saved my life. The more moments like that we have the more sponsor gifts we get. And we we've run out of bandages anyway- and I'll probably need to change the one on my leg wound tomorrow.

Katniss seems to have got the message too. She scrunches up the paper and throws it away. "How badly do you think the careers were injured?" she asks.

"I know Cato has a wound on both legs and took a knife to the shoulder," I say, "but he has a high pain tolerance and they have bandages. What about Clove?"

"She wasn't badly injured," Katniss admits. "I could hardly defend myself, let alone harm her. She was wearing something so that arrows wouldn't work when I tried to shoot her at first. Stabbing works though," she says. That must have been what the District 2 bag contained at the feast. Body armour to defend themselves against our arrows- I didn't notice it with Cato because I didn't attempt to shoot him.

It seems a bit unfair that they get a set of full body armour and we got poison, but then again, since the careers don't use arrows the body armour would be pointless. It does put us at a slight disadvantage though, Cato and Clove being immune to our best weapon. I wonder if the armour has any chinks or weak-spots- Cato's face wasn't covered, neither were his hands.

Perhaps we can use those weak spots against them, though I doubt that I will try to seek confrontation soon- I barely got out of this alive. The only reason that I did was because of Katniss and maybe Aravis. I guess we've been lucky with sponsors, most tributes don't get this much. Even for careers this would be good. Then again, we are something different. Every once in a while a tribute is sponsored an irregular amount for one reason or another.

At least we still have the poison from the feast, I think to myself, wondering what purpose it will have now. Cato and Clove will be suspicious of us and we don't know much about where Thresh would be, just the grain field. Seeing as that covers about a third of the arena that information is fairly unhelpful.

"What was your life like before the Games?" Katniss asks suddenly, turning to Aravis. It's something I am interested to know and we have not much else to talk about I guess. Then again, knowing about Aravis's life and family before the Games will make it harder for us to kill her when the time comes. To late for regret about that now though, Katniss has already asked.

Aravis shrugs at the question. "We were fairly ordinary in our District," she responds. "How much do you know about District 5?" she asks us. None of us know much about the other Districts, probably a Capitol plot to stop us from uniting properly for another rebellion. Everyone is too afraid to try and escape their District though because of what happens if we're caught. The red-headed avox that I saw in the Capitol comes to mind.

"Not much," I admit. "Just that they produce power."

"We do," Aravis says. "I'll tell you a bit more about us. We produce power in three ways- wind power, water power and solar power. Because of this, our District is situated in a part of Panem that is hot, windy and by the sea. It's quite a nice place to grow up- if you avoid the power-stations then you can have a lot of fun out in the sun and on the beach. At school, when we're seventeen, we choose a branch to work in- unless you have a family business of course. Jobs such as nurses, shop-owners and the like are kept in families. When a person retires, at sixty, they have a choice. They can help to maintain our area or become a teacher."

"What branch were you going to choose?" I ask, fascinated by this system.

"I hadn't really decided. I wanted to be a nurse, but I couldn't get the opportunity because of the family thing. None of the nurses in 5 would take a random girl as an apprentice when they could train their daughter or son."

"Oh," Katniss says. "In our District, women don't work much. Unless it's a work at home thing, like my mother. She's a nurse. My sister wants to be as well, but I found some of the injuries people came with disgusting. Working in the mines is dangerous, people sometimes came in with their arms blown off or burnt down to the bone. I would probably have become a nurse if I hadn't been reaped eventually though- because there wasn't much else I could do."

"Anyway, my life is pretty simple. I have a sister- Tessa, who's thirteen. We played together at the beach quite often, and in the fields and in a small wood that was near our house. That's why I'm so good at hiding and climbing- practise. I go to school, I'm one of the smarter people in my class. I come home to my mother and help her cook dinner. My father comes home about an hour later and we eat together and talk. That's pretty much it. My life. How about you?"

It sounds better than my life. District 5 seems well organised and run. Everyone is taken care of, the jobs don't seem too bad. I am envious of her, it seems every District has it better than 12 does. "Mine and Katniss's fathers are dead," I reply. "So we're quite poor, but we can live with what our mothers do. I have a brother named Rory and a sister named Posy. When I'm eighteen I would have got a job in the mines. So yes, my life was fairly regular."

"I have a sister named Prim," Katniss says. "Who I volunteered for. Before that I was just a normal person in District 12- most of us are poor but we were below average."

Both of us know better than to announce the illegal hunting in the woods and visiting the Hob, which so much of our lives are built around. About how we met each other or any stories about ourselves really because they mainly involve things which are illegal. And while in District 12 offering to sell a peacekeeper illegally hunted game is acceptable, I think that other peacekeepers who are watching this would be so lenient.

xXx-X-xXx

Quite a quick update- sorry about the cliffhanger last chapter! So tell me, what did you think? I hope you enjoyed, and as usual, please follow, favourite or review. Thanks.

-MoonOfPluto


	22. 22: Mutts

22: Mutts

Katniss POV

'I am running through the forest- I think I'm nearing the cornucopia. An eerie howling follows me and my heart is pounding in my ears. Brambles tear at my clothes and I hear Gale behind me. We are running from something that I can't see, running as fast as we can. I can hear my pursuer behind me, always close but never catching up completely.

The cornucopia comes into sight. The golden, gleaming horn is covered in blood. I don't know who's blood it is, but I don't hesitate to jump, gripping the metal with both hands. The blood makes it slippery and the sun is making it warm, so it is hard to get a proper hold on it. Desperately trying to get a foothold, I slip back slightly.

Gale is ahead of me and he holds his hand out to me. I grab at it and use the hold to pull myself up to the top of the cornucopia. Because of my weight, Gale falls off. He's abandoned to these faceless creatures of darkness because of me. I scream in sadness, fear and frustration along with Gale's screeches of agony.

Something gets a hold behind my head. I look away from Gale for a moment to see the grinning, face of Clove. She holds a knife to my neck and has a firm hold on my hair. "Oh look, it's your pitiful lover- let's watch him die together shall we?" She jerks my head up with the knife held under it. I see Gale struggling, blood flowing from invisible wounds. He collapses, unconscious from blood loss- or worse, dead.'

I wake up in a cold sweat, breathing hard. Just a dream, I remind myself. Just a dream. Something seems off though, as if something in the dream is still here. I struggle to put my finger on it. Looking around, I see that both Gale and Aravis are sleeping peacefully. Then I realise.

The howling sound- the one that was in my dream- is still here. I can think of nothing else that would make a noise like that except for mutts. I bend down next to Gale and shake him awake. He yawns and looks up at me, his blue-grey eyes blinking sleepily. "Katniss? What is it?" he asks.

"Mutts," I hiss. "Wake Aravis."

I prod Aravis myself and she gets up fairly quickly. "I can hear mutts," I inform her. "We should look around, outside our cave. We can't be trapped in if they come." I put the bow and arrow over my back and shove a few knives in my belt. Gale takes his bow and arrow and his sword, also putting a knife or two in her pocket. Foxface takes some knives and the backpack.

The moon is shining brightly outside our cave, casting a silver light over the forest. A shiver goes up my spine as I see dark shapes in the shadows. Everything is quiet, we are trying not to provoke these creatures. A loud snap sounds as Foxface steps on a twig. We all jump at the sound. A howl answers our noise.

Suddenly, one of the creatures bursts out from behind the bushes. It has the shape of a wolf, but the fur is a pale yellowish colour, like human blonde. It's eyes are an icy blue shade. A sick feeling rises in my stomach- this mutt reminds me of someone. Glimmer, before she was stung to death by tracker jackers.

The recreated the dead tributes in mutts. The wold snarls at us, revealing sharp, white teeth with long, pointed canines at the front. It jumps at us and we scramble back, running. My dream comes back to me as we run. These mutts are faster than us- they jump too. We need to get somewhere where they can't. The cornucopia. Gale seems to have had the same idea.

"To the cornucopia!" he shouts. "They won't be able to get us there."

I whirl around, following him. I trust his sense of direction. Twigs and leaves tear and my face and moisture coming from my eyes blurs my vision. I don't care though- I have only one goal. Get to the cornucopia. My legs are moving without me even thinking about it, propelling me towards safety.

One of the mutts is catching up to me. I can hear its paw steps behind me, much too close for comfort. I grab one of the knives from my belt and blindly throw it behind me, hoping for the best. The mutts gives and all-too-human scream of pain and I put on an extra burst of speed to get away from it before it recovers.

The clearing comes into sight. The cornucopia reflects the silver light from the moon- unlike my dream. I throw myself at it, pulling myself up. The icy metal bites at my fingers, but I ignore it, pulling myself up even further. The mutts jump and I hastily swing my foot out of the way of their jaws.

I slip down slightly, but Gale grabs my hand and yanks me upwards. Slowly, I claw my way up to the top of the cornucopia. The howling of the mutts is behind me, but in front of me is a sight even more terrifying. Without me even having to think, my bow is out, an arrow nocked and aimed.

A tribute stands at the edge of the cornucopia. He has Gale in a headlock. It is Thresh, his face and hair matted with blood, and a horrible wound running all the way down his leg. He has a knife pointed at Gale's back, and his face is twisted in pain and insanity. The Hunger Games have not treated Thresh well; I am almost certain that he is insane.

His mouth opens and he rasps, "go ahead." He gestures at my bow with his head. "Then we both go down and you live." He laughs, digging the knife in slightly. I stay still, he is right. If I just shoot him through the eye, he will die immediately and fall off the cornucopia down into the writhing mass of mutts below. I won't have time to save Gale and I can't sacrifice him now.

A whispered voice comes from behind me. "There's nothing he can do," Aravis hisses to me. "He knows that you won't shoot him in risk of killing Gale, but as soon as he lets Gale go then you can shoot him. He's desperate."

"He's suicidal," I hiss back. "He doesn't care whether he dies now. He's insane."

My eyes flick back to Gale. His eyes are racing rapidly, from one side to the other. Suddenly, I understand what he is trying to say. His eyes are gesturing to Thresh's hand- if I shoot the hand then he'll let go and fall of the cornucopia without dragging down Gale. Silently, I thank the telepathic bond that Gale and I have and aim the arrow.

It's a bit of a risk, but the least risky choice that I have. My fingers tighten around the bowstring as I try to keep them from trembling. Everything depends on this one shot and for the first time I feel slightly unsure of my skills. I shake away the worries and let the arrow fly.

It impales Thresh's hand- a short stream of blood stains it. Thresh gives a short gasp of pain before his hand slowly uncurls from Gale's neck. He falls off the edge of the cornucopia, screaming as he goes down. Gale stumbles further onto the cornucopia and I sigh with relief.

The wolves howl, and jump in on Thresh's body. They maul him, tearing at the flesh. Blood soaks his whole body- it won't take long before he bleeds to death. Earlier in the Games I probably would have put him out of his misery with an arrow to the head, but now I just watch with sadistic pleasure as they bite into his throat. After what he was going to do to Gale and taunting me about it, this is what he deserves.

His neck falls back at an odd angle and his eyes glaze over- Thresh is dead. The cannon booms, the noise echoing through my head and through the forest, telling everybody of the latest death. Only Cato, Clove and Aravis left before Gale and I can win. I hope the Aravis is killed by the careers so I won't have to. I don't think I'll be able to even, after she probably saved Gale's life yesterday.

The mutts give a long howl, then run away through the forest. I rush over to Gale and hug him, pulling him closer to me. "That was so close," I whisper. "You need to be more careful, how did Thresh catch you?"

"Thanks for the save Katniss," he murmurs back. "And Thresh caught me as I came onto the cornucopia, he was insane."

I let him go. "We should get back to the cave," I say recovering. "Before the mutts chase Cato and Clove down here."

Gale and Aravis follow me to the edge of the cornucopia. I slide down the metal and land easily on my feet. I look around carefully before continuing. The mutts left the cornucopia- not the arena. If the Capitol want then they will be sent back to maul and kill us. Or to chase Cato and Clove towards us.

All of us are on edge until we get back to the cave, jumping and gripping weapons at any sound, any twig snapping, leaves rustling or bird tweeting. Luckily, nothing happens to us on our journey back to the cave. When we reach the cave again, we all sink down into our sleeping places.

Though I didn't feel at all tired whilst running or killing Thresh, the exhaustion has now caught up to me. I yawn loudly as I look up to the sky, where the face of Thresh shines. District 11, Thresh Alderson is written in blood red letters below the picture. After a few minutes it disappeared and the Capitol seal shines in the sky.

I think guiltily of Rue, how she wanted Thresh to win for her. Was it that she knew him before? Maybe before the Games he was just a nice boy to her, maybe he was even like Peeta Mellark was to me. Perhaps they had a history. Or maybe it was just that Rue was loyal to her District and wanted another victor from 11.

Twelve has the least amount of victors of any District. District 1, 2 and 4 all have many victors because they are careers. Probably around two thirds of all the victors are from one of those Districts. Then probably District 7 because they can use axes. All of the other districts only have about two or maybe three living victors if they are very lucky.

District 12 only has had two Victors so far. Only one of them living- our mentor, Haymitch. If Gale and I win the Games it should even things out with the other Districts. I wonder why Haymitch started drinking though. He won, why would he want to drink away the life he tried so desperately to preserve.

Maybe he just had nothing left; as far as I know Haymitch has no living family, no wife or children. He has few friends, I guess being a Victor of the Hunger Games alienates you from most people. He doesn't need to work, he has everything he needs. And every year he has the almost hopeless task of guiding District 12 tributes through the Games.

I guess I can see why he fell into depression. But it's different for me, I remind myself. I have family, friends. I have Gale. I'll probably hunt as something to do and give the food I catch to the other kids in the Seam. Maybe I'll even start up a club to train others to hunt- or to train kids with the most tesserae how to use weapons.

Or maybe I'll start a family with Gale. When I get to a decent age for that, right now I'm only sixteen and Gale is eighteen. I don't want to be raising children fresh out of the Hunger Games. But maybe, if I have the money, I'd like to have children. Having children, my mother says, is the purpose of life.

Or perhaps I'd try to start a rebellion, I think hopefully. To make a difference to Panem, to inspire the Districts to rise up against the fear-control of the Capitol. To do something worthwhile. To end the Hunger Games, to change the fact that the Capitol have everything and the Districts are starving. The thought appeals to me, I have to say.

I fall asleep with thoughts of victory and rebellion in my head, slumped against Gale's shoulder.

xXx-X-xXx

So what do you think of the chapter? I'm thinking of doing another thoughts chapter at the end of this story (which including the thoughts chapter will probably be chapter 26). Maybe this one can involve Snow as well, any ideas?

-MoonOfPluto


	23. District 2

23: District 2

Gale POV

Light shines through the entrance of the cave. I stand tall, bow and arrow on my back, sword and knives at my belt. I rinsed my hair in the pool this morning, so it it quite clean and in decent shape. My body has lost the small amount of fat I had in 12, meaning that my body is now almost all muscle. According to Katniss, I look healthy even.

I feel like a career. Like I've trained my whole life for this moment and I have no intention of losing. I feel well-fed and strong- probably because I just ate half a rabbit and I won't let what happened last night happen again. I won't let another tribute come between Katniss and I.

I've decided that it is probably time to hunt down Cato and Clove. We are the last five tributes now. Three against two, we're probably not going to end up getting better odds than now. If the Capitol get bored then they'll end up sending mutts and fire and other horrible 'natural' disasters to us.

"Katniss, I think that we should hunt down Cato and Clove now," I say.

Katniss looks up at me in surprise. "I guess it is a good time," she admits. "Aravis, what do you think?"

Aravis shrugs. "I guess we aren't going to get a better time that now," she says. "None of us are really injured and we're all well-fed and have weapons. Now's a good time."

None of us mention that after we kill Cato and Clove- if we manage- then Aravis is going to get killed. Maybe she has a plan to betray us- I hope not. I've actually come to like and trust her, despite my wariness at the start of the alliance. She's been a good ally for us, and been fairly loyal.

For her it's a losing game though. There's the District 12 team- Katniss and I. We have the advantage on sponsors and long-ranged attacks. We're both smart and good with weapons and liked. And most advantageous of all- there are two of us. Then the District 2 team- some of the Capitolites like them. They are careers, strong, good with weapons. They have armour against our attacks and are smart enough.

Then there's her. I don't think the audiences like her that much. She's the only one from District 5. OK, she smart and decent at throwing knives, but not really victor material I don't think. Definitely not in the eyes of the Capitol anyway. The gamemakers probably won't allow her to win, even if she does deserve it. I think the only reason that they haven't killed her off yet is because she is our ally. And maybe to give us an advantage over Cato and Clove.

"Any ideas where they are?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"Near the lake," Katniss says. "Maybe they haven't changed from where they were before because they think we're afraid of them and want to avoid them."

"We'll check," I decide, leading Katniss and Aravis down the now familiar route down from our cave into the forest. Katniss and I are the proper hunters in these games now, I think with satisfaction. The strongest alliance- the careers, I realise with a jolt. We have essentially become careers.

There wasn't much difference to start with, we were both volunteers, both trained in weapons before, high-scoring. We used to be a part of the career alliance and now we are going hunting willingly. I wonder what the people back in 12 think of us now. They hate the careers, in fact, every District other than 1,2 and 4 hate the careers. Maybe they understand why we did it, maybe they don't.

I doubt that there's much chance of going back to a normal life after this anyway. People look at you differently after having seen you kill a bunch of kids on live TV. And while it the Capitol or career Districts it may make you cool or admired, it District 12 it makes you an outcast. I only need look to Haymitch for example.

We walk purposefully through the forest to the lake, brushing aside any brambles or twigs. We reach the lake fairly quickly and check the old career camp spot. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing here. The only thing to show that tributes were once here is a small, blackened piece of ground where a fire once was and a bit of dried blood on the floor.

"What are we going to do now?" Aravis asks. "Do we go back to the cave and wait for them to show themselves if we can't find their camp?" She wants to wimp out of the attack now, I guess. I can't really blame her as she is the weakest one of us and this attack just brings her closer to her inevitable death.

"Katniss and I can track tributes," I respond quietly. "There are signs when they leave. Look for tracks on the ground and small patches of blood. I doubt they will have gone far." These are signs that I know from hunting larger animals, if I lose sight of them for a short amount of time there are generally signs to show where I should place the snare to catch them.

Katniss leads us down from the clearing along a place where the leaves have been kicked to the sides and flattened. Every now and then I see a small patch of something wet on the floor and I know that it isn't water. It hasn't rained in the arena for days, but luckily our pond didn't dry up completely.

After about ten minutes of walking, I gesture for them to stop. "Around here," I say, gesturing to a small patch of forest. "There'll be some clearings. Set snares with me- Aravis, can you manage?"

"I know how to set snares," she replies, a hint of impatience in her voice. "I spent time at the knot tying place."

"Good," I say.

"Don't we need rope?" she asks.

I look around to see if there is anything else that I can use. Hanging from the tree branches are some thin, vine like things. They have leaves on them, but we can still use them. I wish I'd found out that there were these trees earlier, it would have made hunting- animals that is- so much easier.

"Katniss, do you think you could climb up and bring us some of those vines?" I ask, pointing. Katniss shrugs and climbs the tree easily, yanking of about a dozen vines. She comes back down to the ground and hands me and Aravis vines, five to me, four to her and three to Aravis. In order of how good we are with snares.

I turn a vine over in my hand. It is perfect, it bends easily, yet is sturdy enough to keep a tribute trapped and will be hard to see on the forest floor. I tie the vine in a simple snare, attaching it to a nearby tree. After a few minutes, the whole area is snared. We'll need to be careful not to step in our snares ourselves, but we know where they are. Cato and Clove don't.

I take out my bow and nock an arrow, pointing it at the place careers will probably be coming from. I hear a small rustling of leaves and I adjust the position of the bow, aiming exactly at the spot. Next to me, Katniss has done the same and Aravis has two knives out, one in each hand, ready to throw.

I release my arrow at the spot and hear a scream of elation. Cato's voice, I think. I remember the body armour and draw my sword, ready for him to come at me. It is only a second before he does. He looks even worse than before, his arms seem to have been mauled by animals and his eyes hold an insane glint.

His sword is out as well and he swings it at me powerfully. I remember what the Capitol instructor said and let instinct take over. I step back from the swing and push his sword down with mine. He just rains blows down on me. Surprisingly, I manage to dodge, block or parry all of them, but I know it's just a matter of time before he gets a hit.

I have quick reflexes and am a natural with the sword, but he has years of experience on his side, plus more strength and insanity. Soon I'll end up tiring and seeing as it's impossible for me to get a hit in, he'll kill me. Suddenly, I get a great idea. What if I let him drive me back and manipulate him into a snare? Then I can kill him easily.

"Gale!" Aravis shouts. "Behind you!"

I look over my shoulder for a split second and see a huge, dark shape behind me. That same moment, Cato takes advantage of my distraction and slices down my leg. I resist the urge to scream and carry on fighting as the dark shape sails over my head. Now I know what it is.

It's Thresh. Thresh in wolf mutt form.

I force myself to concentrate on the immediate threat- Cato. I take a step back and he drives forward with his sword, forcing me backwards. About a meter behind me is one of my snares. I need to jump over it at exactly the right time and make it look natural for this plan to work.

As I step back, I know that the next step needs to be a jump. Cato thrusts forward and I make the jump backwards, narrowly avoiding being skewered by Cato. His foot hits the middle of the snare and the next second, he is hoisted up in the air by his foot. His sword has dropped to the ground and I pick it up and throw it away from him.

His face contorts in rage and fear. I pick up my sword and stab him through the neck, watching as the blood flows fast and his pale blue eyes go cold and dead. The cannon goes off and I look around for Katniss and Aravis. Katniss is still fighting Clove, this time with knives.

Katniss has the upper hand as she is almost uninjured, whereas Clove has many gashes on her arms and legs. I run over to her and stab Clove in the head, watching in triumph as she collapses, just like Cato did. Another cannon, and now Katniss, Aravis and I are the last tributes left.

I look around for Aravis and see her grappling with the Thresh-mutt. It has its teeth embedded in her shoulder and rips down with force that makes me want to vomit just looking at it. Katniss is ahead of me, an arrow sails straight into the Thresh-mutt's head. It is dead immediately and I run over to Aravis.

She isn't dead yet, but her injury will almost certainly kill her. In a way, I'm almost pleased- this means that neither Katniss or I killed her. The Capitol killed her, not any of us. I kneel down next to her, Katniss at my side.

"I'm going to die," Aravis whispers. "Katniss, Gale- thank you for helping me in these games. I knew I wasn't going to win though. Be happy together. Mum, dad and especially you Tessa, I love you." Her head leans to the side and she closes her eyes to die. Katniss is singing a song to her, one that I remember that my dad used to sing. I join in with her.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow.

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow.

Lay down your head, close your sleepy eyes,

And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Here it's safe, here it's warm,

Here the daisies guard you from every harm.

Here, your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true.

Here is the place where I love you.

xXx-X-xXx

Just Gale and Katniss left now. What did you guys think of the chapter? Please leave a review telling me, and thanks to all the people who have already reviewed, followed or favourited this story. Only 3 more chapters left now..

-MoonOfPluto


	24. Rule Change

24: Rule Change

Katniss POV

The sound of the final cannon echoes through the arena and my mind dimly registers what this means. Gale and I have won the Hunger Games. We are the only tributes left. I jump up and hug Gale. "Gale we won!" I shout. "We can go back to Twelve together and..."

I am cut off by an announcement from the Capitol over the microphones. "Tributes! Tributes of the 74th Hunger Games!" the voice of Claudius Templesmith fills the arena. I look at Gale unsurely, this isn't what was meant to happen. When a tribute wins the games, the announcement is 'I give you (name), Victor of the (insert number) Hunger Games'. Then they play applause and Capitol hovercraft come to pick up the Victor. Not this.

Gale seems just as surprised as I am. "There has been a slight rule change regarding our previous rule change," the voice continues. "Closer examination of the rule book has revealed that there can only be one Victor. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour."

It takes a few moments for the message to sink in properly. I heard the words, but they didn't register in my brain. Then I see it. Gale and I can't win together. It was all a plot for a show, with Gale and I as the puppets that they jerk around on strings and throw away once they're finished with.

Closer examination of the rule book, right. I think that even a four year old child knows that the rules of the Hunger Games- no, the only rule of the Hunger Games- is that everyone fights to the death until a lone Victor remains, in the words of the Capitol. I highly doubt that Seneca Crane didn't know this.

A white hot anger fills me as I whirl around to look at Gale again. He looks crushed at this discovery, but pulls out the backpack and takes out the bottle of cyanide pills that we never properly used. He slowly unscrews the cap and picks up a capsule. It finally hits me what he is about to do.

"Gale, what are you doing?" I shout.

"You're the Victor, Katniss," he says simply. "The purpose of me coming here was to protect you and I've done that. You go home, back to Prim and your mum."

For some reason, this makes me incredibly angry. "No way," I insist forcefully. "We've come through this far together, I can't bear to lose you now."

"Katniss, listen.." Gale starts out.

I interrupt him. "No, Gale, you listen. I'm not going back to Twelve without you. Give me the cyanide."

"Katniss, I can't go back without you," he says. "Please.."

"Together," I mutter.

He looks confused, but I give him a look. Trust me, I say through my eyes. His face relaxes in comprehension and I know that he has understood my idea. The Capitol need a Victor. If we have enough support, they'll think it better to have two Victors than no Victor. And I love Gale. I won't be able to live with myself if I just let him sacrifice himself for me.

"Together," he agrees and hands me a capsule.

"On three," I say, lifting the capsule to my mouth.

"One," he says.

"Two," I continue, letting up the capsule to my mouth.

"Three," we say together, bringing the capsules to our lips.

"Wait! Stop!" a rather panicked voice from the sky calls. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne, the winners of the 74th Annual Hunger Games!" he announces. My hand falls limply to my side, dropping the cyanide capsule on the ground. The plan succeeded: we won.

I wrap my arms around Gale and wait for the hovercraft to arrive. It comes quickly, giving me very little time to enjoy the sensation of Gale's arms around me for the first time in a long time without any danger or need to kill him. The electric ladder descends and I follow Gale up it, the current numbing my arms and causing them to clench around the ladder.

We are pulled up into the hovercraft; inside is a first aid space and some chairs. There is a man with dark hair that I assume is a doctor and the red haired avox that I noticed before. The one that I couldn't save in the woods. I give her an apologetic look and she gives me a small nod.

I don't know if she recognised me and accepts my apology or if she is just congratulating me for my victory. Maybe she sees it as rebellion- which for part of me it was. I admit that my actions weren't all for love- undoubtably they were fuelled by my burning anger towards the Capitol as well.

The doctor starts to examine me- I don't really know why, he must have seen everything that happened on live TV. He seems satisfied that almost nothing is wrong with me- the only wound that I have is a shallow wound on my arm from fighting Clove. Little more than a scratch really.

He wraps a small bandage tight around it. "That should be better in a few days," he tells me. "You're lucky, you know. You're one of the least injured victors ever to come out of the Games." I shrug. I can believe this, I've seen Victors with horrible scars and times when they very nearly didn't survive in the arena at the end.

Victors who've gone insane. This was the thing that really scared me, that I might go insane in the arena. It's happened before, to Titus- the District 6 cannibal, to Enobaria- the career who tore a tributes heart out with her teeth, and most recently to Annie Cresta (who only won because she was the only District 4 tribute when her arena flooded).

The doctor moves on to Gale, who is in much worse shape than me. He has a long and medium depth leg wound that must be killing, his left arm got pretty mauled during the games too. The doctor takes out a needle and injects a liquid into Gale's leg. I recognise it from seeing my mother work.

It is morphing, a powerful painkiller. It's also a drug that can be bought at high prices from dealers in the shadier parts of the Hob. I always feel uncomfortable going there to collect some for my mother, even though Gale always came with me. It makes me worry about Gale, my mother only used it for patients in huge amounts of pain.

Maybe they use it more in the Capitol because they can afford it. He then starts to stitch up the leg wound, neatly and precisely. For once, I am glad of the presence of a Capitolite. Left untreated, Gale's leg would probably have to be amputated. I look away from Gale until the stitching is done.

"I'm OK, Katniss," Gale reassures me, sensing my discomfort. "The doctor told me it wouldn't need to be amputated or anything. It'll take about a month for me to recover, but that's all." I sigh in relief, I expected it would take more than a month to recover, the wound looked pretty serious.

The helicopter moves quickly back to the Capitol, where we are taken straight back to the tribute rooms. We are given a few hours to relax with each other and let Gale get used to the numbness of his leg, then our stylists come in. Gale is walking slowly around the room, I am lying on my bed.

I sit up suddenly as Cinna comes in. He hasn't changed much, he still dresses in a fairly regular way with only a bit of golden eyeliner showing that he is, in fact, a Capitolite. Portia is with him, dressed a bit more in the traditional Capitol style. Her hair is in fiery tones, probably inspired by the tributes on fire theme.

"I have your outfits for the interviews tomorrow," Cinna explains, gesturing towards a bag. "We wanted to see if they fit properly and if you liked them. Portia and I will be back in about half an hour- that gives you plenty of time to get cleaned up and try on the outfits." I nod and they leave the room.

"Have you thought about what to do for the interview tomorrow?" Gale asks.

"No, I've been a bit busy with staying alive," I respond. I head into the bathroom with my dress, leaving him with his bag of clothes. I take a long shower, relishing the feeling of the dirt melting off my body in the warm, soapy water. After drying myself, I slip the dress over my body and examine myself in the mirror.

It is beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Not so bright and in-your-face as my first two outfits, but in my opinion, the best. It is knee length, but there are long sleeves with cover my arms. It is a soft, golden yellow colour that reminds me of candlelight. As I turn around, it shimmers slightly. I wonder what Cinna made to go with it.

I reach into the bag again and withdraw a few small items with a note from Cinna. It tells me to wear my mockingjay pin with the outfit, so I clip it on and there is a golden headband which I put on my head to keep loose strands of hair out of my eyes. There is also a necklace, silver with a small amber gem.

I open the door of the bathroom and walk back into the small living room, where Gale is sitting on the sofa. He is also dressed simply, in a smart, charcoal grey suit with buttons with small, golden flames running through them. He turns around to look at me.

"Katniss.. You look amazing," he says.

"It is beautiful," I reply, giving him a slight twirl so that he can see the shimmer effect. "You don't look so bad yourself."

"Not yet," Gale says. "But Portia's doing something with my hair tomorrow morning, to give me golden highlights that will apparently go with the fire theme."

"She probably knows what she's doing," I say. "They did a good job with everything else."

"True. Cinna and Portia should be back soon."

Almost a minute after he says this, the door opens and Cinna and Portia enter. "The outfits seem to fit well," Cinna says, examining Gale and I. "How do they feel and what do you think of the look?"

"It's beautiful," I respond. "Thank you Cinna."

"You're welcome, girl on fire," he answers. "How's your outfit Gale?"

"Good... I guess," Gale says. "I'm not sure of the hair thing though."

"Don't worry- you'll look amazing," Portia assures him. "The Capitol girls will be all over you."

"Was there anything else you wanted?" I ask, yawning. "Because I'm a bit tired after the Games and all."

"That's about it," Cinna says. "Get your beauty sleep- you need to be fresh for the interviews tomorrow." I nod and wander into the bedroom, changing out of my dress and hanging it up in the wardrobe. He's right- I do need to be fresh for the interviews tomorrow. What Gale and I did probably had be big impression and we need to play it exactly right with the audiences.

xXx-X-xXx

Only two chapter left now! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as usual, please review, follow or favourite. Thanks.

-MoonOfPluto


	25. Victory Interviews

25: Victory Interviews

Gale POV

Portia has spent all morning fussing over my hair. I must admit, now dressed in my suit with my hair dyed in fiery colours, I look pretty good. Portia did a good job with my hair- it doesn't look too ridiculous and obvious, more undertones. My leg is recovering, even without painkillers it isn't too hard to walk now.

Katniss sits opposite to me in a waiting room. She looks truly beautiful, her dress seems like a reflection of her character. Fiery, but also gentle and loving sometimes. The soft, candlelight glow is not so flashy as the other dresses, this dress is here to make her look pretty, not to help her make an impression. Not to say that she didn't look pretty in the other outfits.

"What are we going to say?" Katniss mutters to me.

"We'll say the truth. That we couldn't bare to be parted. Then we can just answer their questions," I reply. Both of us leave out mentioning the rebellion aspect of it, that part of us just wanted to spite the Capitol. This room is probably being watched and I don't really want to bring it up now.

A head pops around the door. It looks around for a second, then Haymitch enters. "You're alone," he says, and Katniss and I nod to confirm it. "Good. Have you thought about what you're going to say for the interviews?" he asks us.

"That we loved each other so much that we didn't want to live without the other," I reply. "And then answer their questions. Is there anything wrong with that angle?"

Haymitch pauses. "No," he responds. "No, that's what I came in here to ask you to do. That's the angle that everyone wants you to play up. To keep you safe," he adds. Katniss and I both know what he means. Our actions may have been for love, but they were also for rebellion. Quite a large part for rebellion. If Snow catches on that we are dangerous and stirring up rebellion, he will kill us.

"We understand," Katniss says. "Was there anything else?"

"No," Haymitch says. "That's it." He leaves the room. A few seconds later, I hear Caesar Flickerman call out our names to the crowds, our cue to go onstage. I grasp Katniss's hand in mine and we walk up on stage, hearing the crowds yell our names. There are more people than usually turn up to a victory interview, we are popular.

Katniss and I sit next to Caesar Flickerman. He is still in his blue phase, blue hair, skin, eyes and clothes. Capitol freak- but one who'll help us greatly.

"So, Katniss and Gale, the star crossed lovers of District 12," he greets us. "We've all been watching you with bated breath. Can you answer a few questions that we've all been curious about."

"Of course," I force out, hoping I look natural.

"Well we've all been wondering- what made you take out the cyanide?" he asks. Straight in to the main question.

"I just love him so much that I couldn't even comprehend a world without him," Katniss says. Cheesy, but it's what the Capitol want. I can comprehend a world without Katniss- I just don't want to live in one. I value Katniss's life above my own. "So I wanted to die and let him live."

"But I couldn't let Katniss die for me," I continue. "So I tried to commit suicide and let her win. That was my purpose in coming to the Games."

"I know Gale well enough to know that he wouldn't back down on this. I suggested that we take it together so that neither of us had to live without the other," Katniss says.

"And it worked," I finish. "Only much differently than I expected. Thank you," I say. "Thank you to all of you who sponsored us and wanted us to survive. We couldn't have made it without you." We couldn't have made it in here without you either, I add in my head. I hate playing up to the Capitol audiences.

"So who have you got waiting for you at home?" Caesar asks us.

"I have my sister Prim and my mother," Katniss replies. "Prim- if you're watching this, I'll be back soon," she addresses the cameras.

"My brother Rory and my sister Posy and my mum," I respond. "I've missed them more than anything in these Games."

"Well I'm sure they'll be glad to know that," Caesar tells us. "We interviewed your families a few days ago and they feel exactly the same way," he says. That doesn't surprise me much, every year when they're down to the last few tributes they interview the remaining tribute's families. I know that mum and Rory and Posy are smart enough not to say anything that would make us seem like criminals or rebels.

The interview goes on for another fifteen minutes or so with Caesar asking questions about main parts of the Games and the fire outfits and Aravis. We answer most of these honestly as there is no need to lie. None of these have implications of starting a rebellion. When it comes to Aravis I say that she was a smart, loyal and kind girl who didn't deserve to die the way she did. There was a chorus of awwws across the audience. If they cared so much, I think in disgust, they could have at least sponsored her.

After the interview, I walk back to the tribute rooms with Katniss to change out of our outfits and to wash the dye out of my hair. I change into some plain, black clothes and Katniss changes into the training clothes that she wore because their was nothing in her wardrobe which was plain or comfortable.

"We should go for a walk," Katniss says after a few minutes of sitting down. "See what's in the rest of the buildings- we've hardly seen anything of the Capitol yet." I realise that she is right, the only places that we've seen are our rooms and the interviewing space. Oh, and the training room. Maybe we can go back there and train with weapons for a bit.

"OK," I reply. "How about the training room?" I suggest.

"Fine," Katniss says.

We head over to the training room. I'm surprised that I remember the way, but I can remember a lot of things that happened before we went into the Games clearly. We walk in silence, there's nothing much to say. Now all I really want is to get back to my family, back to Twelve.

I still don't feel comfortable around Katniss as we are still in the Capitol's eyes. Probably playing for them even more now because we have to mask any trace of hatred if we don't want to be killed for rebelling against the game makers. I'll be going back to 12 in a few days though, back to hunting and playing with Rory and eating my mum's game stew. Back home.

We reach the training room. The door is locked, but only by a bolt, so Katniss and I open it. To our surprise, the lights are all on. The dummies are still there and the stations and the game makers area. Then I notice and give a small gasp. The game maker's tables are all clear, except for one large bottle.

Even from this far away, I can recognise it. Cyanide.

Katniss has noticed to and is running up the stairs to the tables. I follow her and when we reach it, there is a bigger surprise. Sitting down, looking rather panicked, is Seneca Crane. He doesn't look good, he looks tired and his hair is unkempt. It takes me a minute to put two and two together.

Seneca Crane screwed up. There was only meant to be one Victor and he allowed two. Therefore President Snow needed to have him killed. And Snow is sadistic. Ironic murder- that Seneca Crane will be killed by committing suicide with cyanide, just the way that we were going to.

"Katniss Everdeen, Gale Hawthorne," he greets us.

"Seneca Crane," I reply warily.

"I should have let you do it," he says, laughing hollowly. "But I couldn't. I was sentimental- and I would have been killed either way. Well-played," he praises us.

"You were sentimental," Katniss says doubtfully, sarcastically even.

"I could have let you die," Seneca snaps at her.

"So why didn't you?" I ask curiously.

"They loved you," he replies. "Everyone loved it- the star-crossed lovers, the drama, the romance. I admit that I loved you too- you were my masterpiece, the Games that everybody would remember. I couldn't bring myself to just kill you off." I nod at his explanations.

"And now you're being killed for it," Katniss says.

Seneca nods. "Let me out," he says. "Let me go- I have enough money and contacts to start a completely new life," he says.

Part of me wants to cram the cyanide down his throat for what me did to me and Katniss, but part of me wants to let him go. As much as I hate to admit it, I am in this man's debt. And I hate letting a debt go unpaid. Katniss appears to be thinking the same things. I move aside almost at the same time as her.

"Go," she says. "Count this as our thanks for letting us both live."

I make a noise of agreement and Seneca looks up at us gratefully. "Thank you," he says. "Most tributes would have just let me die here." He's right about that, apart from the careers, only us and maybe Foxface and Rue would have let him live. He seems genuinely grateful though, not just that act that Capitol people seem to put up.

He leaves the room quite quickly, probably afraid that we'll change our minds. I walk up to the sword fighting station and pick up a sword like the one that I used in the Games. I swing powerfully at a dummy, releasing all of the confusion and frustration that I have felt over the past few weeks. I hit it again and again until it breaks in half, then I drop the sword.

I look around for Katniss and see her accurately impaling targets straight through the eyes with arrows. Not just at the archery station- all the dummies in the training room except for the one that I was hacking apart. Seems that she needed to get her frustration out too- not that I blame her. She's had to put through as much as I have in these Games.

I comfort myself with the thought that I'll be back home at District 12 with Rory and Posy and mum and Katniss by tomorrow. The Hunger Games are over.

xXx-X-xXx

Just one more chapter left now! Sorry that this update is a bit late, and thanks to all of you have have read this far and reviewed, favourited and followed (or intend to). Bye until the last chapter...

-MoonOfPluto


	26. Final Thoughts

26: Thoughts

Seneca POV

I rush back to my house quickly to get some money and my phone and to tidy myself up a bit. Snow is the only one who knows that I am supposed to be dead, so if others see me walking in the streets it's nothing to worry about. I sigh in frustration. Where did it all go so wrong? I guess it was when I started playing around with new rules, but after seeing Gale and Katniss, they would have probably managed to win together anyway.

Once I'm satisfied that I look presentable and have something to eat, I write a note to my family quickly.

Dear Family,

After the Hunger Games went wrong, I was supposed to be executed. However I am still alive, Katniss and Gale saved me. I am starting a new life now. I doubt you will be able to come with me without giving anything away, but if you wish to visit my new address will be: Fleet House, West Street, on the North Side.

I'm going to miss you a lot. Maria, my beautiful wife, I love you. Take good care of Lucy and Jasper for me. Lucy, daughter, I love you too. I want you to do well in life, so concentrate on your schoolwork and make some good friends. Jasper, my son, stay strong and of course, I love you too.

-Seneca

PS: Get rid of/hide this properly after you read it.

PPS: If you come to visit me, don't be surprised if I have a new face.

I fold the letter up and put it on my wife's pillow. I look around at the house in regret. My whole life is crumbling around me, and the only other alternative is death. I hear a low chuckle coming from behind me and I spin around to the source. Oh crap, I think. Sitting in a chair behind me is President Snow.

"How touching," he says sarcastically. My hand twitches as I suppress the urge to draw my handgun and kill him. He seems to notice. "I wouldn't if I were you," he advises. "I have guards you know- right outside this room. Killing me would get you nowhere. Now hand over the gun- I have a proposition which may allow you to live."

My interest is piqued by this. I expected him to kill me. I slowly draw my handgun and pass it to him. "What is your proposition?" I ask suspiciously.

"Very good," he praises me, like a dog. I've always resented the way that he talks down to people. "And my proposition is your only chance to live." He pauses. "What do you know about District 13?"

"District 13 produced graphite. They were destroyed after the Dark Days to scare the other Districts into submission," I say. There isn't much to know- everyone knows that much.

"Wrong," he says. Wrong? What does he mean, this is what everyone knows. "District 13 produced a small amount of graphite, but it was mainly nuclear power and weapons that they had. We knew that if it came to nuclear war the whole of Panem would be destroyed. So an agreement was made. We pretended to bomb them and they went underground, allowed to rule themselves."

"OK.. What does this have to do with me?" I ask curiously. That isn't what I expected, but I guess it makes sense. And why would President Snow tell me lies about this?

"Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne have produced a spark of rebellion. If a boy and girl from District 12 of all places can defy the Capitol and live, others will try. I can't kill them because then they would become martyrs and people would rebel more. District 13 would be the base of a rebellion. I want you to be my spy there."

"How do you know they would accept me?" I ask. "They seem pretty secretive."

"You have a motive for revenge and they would want people who hate me. You could say you knew about them from a friend- you have enough contacts for it to be believable."

"OK- I'll do this," I say. It's my only chance to survive, he's right. I don't have much of a choice.

"Get ready. Your helicopter leaves in half and hour." He gives my gun and a phone to me. "Keep in touch on this phone- it's untraceable." I open my mouth to reply, but Snow cuts me off. "And remember, Seneca- if I find out you have turned traitor I will kill your children. Jasper and Lucy, wasn't it?"

That manipulative bastard. Now I have absolutely no choice in this. I can't die, I can't actually join the rebels. I will be forced to spy on District 13 and maybe on Katniss and Gale, the two tributes who saved my life. Even though I know that it's wrong, I can't refuse his offer. Jasper and Lucy will always come before Katniss and Gale, even though they saved my life.

"Yes," I mutter through gritted teeth. "I won't betray you."

"Very good," he responds and leaves the room, calling his guards to him.

Snow POV

I allow myself to smile after leaving Seneca's house. Everything is falling into place. I now have a spy in District 13, one who is very believable. I've tried to get spies in before, various peacekeepers, but they have records on them all. None of them had a reason to betray me or a way of finding out about the rebellion, so they were caught. I'm sure Seneca won't be caught though. He is an excellent actor, smart too.

The only bad decision he made was to let Katniss and Gale live. Then again, that decision saved his life. I would have had him killed anyway, as two teens from District 12 going against my wishes is rebellion anyway. The point is that Seneca knows how to please an audience, whether an audience of District 13 soldiers or of Hunger Games fans.

Perhaps a talk is in order with Katniss and Gale, to let them know what is at stake here. It is essential that the Districts and Capitol believe that what they did was an expression of love, not of rebellion. Otherwise they will start to rebel, someone will eventually find out about 13 and the Capitol will be ridiculously outnumbered.

At the moment, the only things keeping us on top of the Districts are technology and training and money. But District 13 can offer them all of those things, so it is essential that the Districts can't find out about 13. This Seneca thing came just in time really, as spy can be placed in the Capitol's time of need.

If the talk with Katniss and Gale does not work or they turn out bad at convincing the people, I will need a way to eliminate them. Without making them martyrs of course. What would be a way of making them die without me being implicated. Random shooting in Twelve? No, people would suspect. Threats to her family to control her? Possible, but if she joins the rebels then her family will be protected.

Then my mind hits a great idea. The Quarter Quell is next year. And a Victors only Quarter Quell was somewhere on the list. Not for next year, but nobody really has to know that. I can switch the twist from the a boy being reaped and his mother being his partner to a victors only twist.

Katniss being the only female District 12 tribute, she will definitely be reaped. Then it's either Gale or Haymitch. I don't think that I should bias it, because if anybody finds out then people will join the rebels faster than tributes die in the bloodbath. Gale, being reckless like he is will probably volunteer anyway. In fact, it's probably better if Haymitch is picked because then I can't be blamed for killing Gale.

I need to find a new head game maker, one who I can trust to make these Games dramatic and interesting and fatal for most. Now I regret not paying much attention to the game makers apart from Seneca. I try to remember whether he ever mentioned that anyone was good to me and my mind comes up with a name.

Plutarch Heavensbee, game maker in charge of mutts. I've seen his work over the past few years, and I admit that it is pretty good. The fox mutts, Seneca told me, were completely his idea. If he is head game maker, probably a lot of the games will involve mutts, and the people love that.

Yes, I need to pay a visit to Plutarch Heavensbee and inform him of his new position.

Haymitch POV

I reach for some of the white liquor ordered from the Hob in 12 to calm my nerves. It works well. Katniss and Gale didn't mess up the interviews- luckily for the rebellion and for them as well. Everything turned out in probably the best way possible. They've provided the spark of rebellion. The spark that the Districts need to rise up.

It's a pity that we can't arrange any protection for them, not without people knowing about rebellion anyway. Now everything is down to Snow. But whatever happens, the rebellion will have something. Unless Katniss and Gale play his games, whatever they may be. But I can't see that happening in the near future.

If they are killed then she'll be a martyr for a cause. Immortalised, like an idea. People will sign up for the rebellion just to avenge her. Her or Gale and no other tribute though, I think bitterly. Nobody from my games ever sparked such an interest. That's all it is to them really- she was so interesting to them that they began to see her as human.

But the better alternative is for District 13 to kidnap her, take her to their underground headquarters. Train her a bit, then use her. Film videos of her and release them to Panem. Have her sabotage Capitol business. Little things that will stir up rebellion in the general populace.

When representatives from 13 pulled me aside a few months after becoming Victor, they were considering me for her role. A symbol of the rebellion, after my own small rebellion in the Hunger Games. They were impatient- I wasn't their perfect choice. What I did was too small. But how long could they wait?

That was when I was introduced to the rebellion. And I feel sorry for Katniss if it's going to happen to her. It puts her directly in the Capitol line of fire, yet at the same time keeps her safe. I gulp a bit more liquor, relishing the familiar tastes of District 12. Perhaps I'm trying to suppress the memories.

I'm going to make sure that they're more cautious with this symbol though. The mockingjay, they call her. Operation Mockingjay, after her pin I suppose. When I was their symbol they were too reckless. They released a video and a week later, my mother was killed. Nobody really suspected that it was because of them though, even I can't prove it.

She ate a bad piece of turkey- so people were told. But after I found that signature white rose in my house, I knew differently. I stopped being the symbol then. I couldn't risk the life of my sister. District 13 weren't desperate for me either. They persuaded me to be their spy in Capitol and the Districts though, and I accepted.

I couldn't let Snow get away with what he had done to me. And neither will Katniss Everdeen or Gale Hawthorne, that I know.

Author's Note

Finished. I've completed my first fanfiction. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed and favourited this story, and if you have any feedback on the whole thing, feel free to leave another review. You guys are great. The sequel is up now, it is called Kindling the Spark. I hope you liked the story, and once again, thanks to everyone who read this far. See you in the sequel..

-MoonOfPluto


End file.
